And the Moral of the Story is….Slowplaying Can Make You Feel Really, Really Stupid

Whenever I read a story like this one, I am reminded of how very careful you must be when slowplaying a relatively strong hand, or even a very strong hand. Poker players can, and do, develop tunnel vision, seeing only the hand they have, and not their opponents potential hands based on their actions and the cards on the board. We must also consider the cards which may still be coming. When staring at an ace high straight, or the nut flush, it is all too easy to miss the fact that we may already be beat (the straight by a flush, the nut flush by a full house). And, of course, the full house can be beat as well…

The last live tournament I played in was in Tunica, MS, and I slowplayed my set of 4’s after the flop. The hand got even better when my set turned into a full house on the turn. With an ace and a flush draw on the board and two other players active in the pot, I was sitting pretty, I thought. Let them do the betting and/or chasing. The seven of spades on the river was my dream card, I thought! After all, my full house beats his made flush, right? Except by slow-playing my strong hand (which only got stronger) I had actually allowed him to hit his gutshot straight flush, which he was chasing since the flop. The pot was huge, and that hand crippled me. Soon I was out of the tournament.

I played the hand badly. My biggest mistake was not fully recognizing what the developing board might afford my opponent. I saw the flush draw, but I did not see the straight flush draw. I let this beat happen by not fully reading the board and understanding where one of my opponents was really headed.

Slow-playing is an effective, albeit dangerous technique. You must be very aware of the cards that are out, the cards that may come, and be good at reading your opponent to effectively exploit slow-playing opportunities without shooting yourself in the foot.