Do's and Don'ts of Slow Playing in Online Poker

'Slow and steady wins the race'. The proverb holds true when it comes to playing online poker as well. You guessed it right. We are talking about "slow playing" your poker game. Though "slow playing" offers many advantages in the game, those who play poker online tend to underestimate the term. Slow playing is when the players cover up their strong hands and create a wrong impression to fellow players by not betting or raising. Slow-players play it smart by checking or calling and even end up winning a bigger pot than they would if they had played aggressively. Players can choose to slow play either post-flop or pre-flop. In this article, we throw light on how 'Slow-Playing" can help players wanting to win the best online poker games in India. But the slowplaying strategy doesn't fit in all situations in the game.  

Here are some of the "Do's "and "Don'ts" of slow playing in online Poker.

Do's:

Slow play when you spot aggressive or loose players

Aggressive players tend to bet and raise, and thus they play an important role in building the pot. By slow playing, you create a false impression that you have a weaker hand. For this, you should call and check their aggressive bets and raise and then raise them on the turn. An effective slow play strategy in this scenario is to let them build the pot. It is possible by betting hands on the flop which will in turn force aggressive players to raise your bet. This strategy is essentially deceiving your opponent players and can be implemented in low-stakes games.

• Slow play when the board appears "Dry"

  A dry board in a poker game happens when the community cards laid out do not make a good or strong drawing hand. For example, when the cards are from different suits. Here the players have the least possibility of making a flush, or a straight. In such cases, we say that the cards are disconnected or uncoordinated. Since the board is dry, you are not threatened by any strong hands coming your way, and you are free to slow play. A dry board gives slow players immense opportunity to lead by securing a strong hand through flopping a set. It is likely to make your opponents fold.

• Slow playing during "Heads-Up" poker

  "Heads-Up" poker is played when there are only two players at the table. As opposed to multiple players in the pot, a "heads-up" situation is an ideal one to slowplay since it is easier to measure the moves made by a single opponent and act accordingly.

Don'ts:

By now the Do's might have given you a clear idea as to what are the inappropriate situations for slow playing your game. Still, we mention them here again. Check whether you got it right.

• Don't slow play against tight or passive players

  Passive players or tight players are not those who let you know what they have, no matter how hard you try. They will not give you the slightest clue about their hands and will often wait till the turn and the river to perform some real action. It is recommended that you avoid slow playing against these players because the responsibility of building the pot is upon you.

• Avoid slow playing on wet or coordinated boards

  A wet board presents plenty of opportunities to make the best hands in poker. For example, you have a pair of 5s like 5♥ 5♠

And the wet board on flop has 4♣ K♣ 5♦

Never slow play at this point because it is as good an opportunity to your opponents as it is to you. If you wait till the turn wet boards will act in favour of your opponents and might complete the draw with a "scare card" when you least expect it.

• Don't slow play in a multi-way pot

  As the number of players increases, the number of players having a better hand than yours is more. Please note that slow playing is not done just because you want to approach a different method of playing. Slow playing and predicting the playing patterns of multiple players in a game is difficult.

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