Slow Playing

Experienced and inexperienced poker players can learn how to play a hand of poker correctly in a poker tournament no matter what type of poker game is being played. One way to play a hand of poker is to slow play the hand. Slow playing a hand is also referred to as sandbagging or trapping and it is quite opposite to bluffing. Bluffing is when a poker player bets weakly or passively while holding a strong hand opposed to beating aggressively with a weak hand. Playing a hand slowly in a game of poker is used to lure players into the pot who might fold when the stakes are raised or might bet more strongly than they would if they had bet or raised when playing aggressively.

The following conditions, as defined by pro poker player and author David Sklansky, must occur for a person to play a hand slowly and effectively:

• “A player must have a very strong hand.”

• “The free card or cheap card the player is allowing to his opponents must have good possibilities of making them a second-best hand.”

• “That same free card must have little chance of giving an opponent a better hand or even giving them a draw to a better hand on the next round with sufficient pot odds to justify a call.”

• “The player must believe that he will drive out opponents by showing aggression, but can win a big pot if the opponents stay in the pot.”

• “The pot must not yet be very large.”

Poker players play their hand slowly if they have a strong hand for the sole purpose of hiding the fact that they have a strong hand. The player will do this by checking or calling their opponent instead of raising the bet at the table. Poker players will play their hand slowly for the sole purpose of their opponent building a hand that is second best in poker terms. The best position to play a slow hand at the table is the late position. Most experts recommend not to give opponents a free card in any situation when playing a slow hand in a game of poker.

The two main advantages of playing a hand slowly by a poker player is that an opponent will rarely be forced to fold their hand when the slow player has a stellar hand and playing poker slowly will allow the opponent to build a hand that is worth betting later in the tournament. The disadvantages of playing a poker hand slowly are innumerable and outweigh the advantages of playing a poker hand slowly. The player must determine whether or not they should play a hand slowly on their own. Slow playing a hand in a poker game, no matter which type of poker game, can be done at live events and on the Internet when playing in online poker tournaments. The player should make sure they know how to effectively play their hand slowly prior to putting this idea into action.

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