Part: Part Eight - Making Moves
Slow-playing to induce
Flop
You opened and an aggressive big blind called. Flop 8♥ 3♣ 3♦ - you flop a full house on a bone-dry board. He checks.
A near-unbeatable hand, dry board, aggressive opponent who loves to bet. Best?
WhyYou're holding a full house on a bone-dry board - essentially no card beats you and there's nothing to protect against. A bet only folds out the bluffs you want to keep. Checking looks weak and hands an aggressive opponent the rope to hang himself with on later streets.
What happensYou check behind. Pot stays 2,400 (6 BB), and the trap is set.
Turn
Turn J♠ - and now, reading you for weakness, he bets into you.
Your check induced a bet. With the full house, best?
WhyHe's betting because your check screamed weakness - exactly what you were fishing for. Flat and let him keep firing into a hand that's got him drawing dead; save the raise for the river where the money is biggest. Raising now kills the bluff you worked to induce.
What happensYou call, he barrels the river, and you raise into a man drawing dead. Patience, not aggression, won the big pot.
With an unbeatable hand on a safe board you checked, letting an aggressive opponent bluff into you. Slow-playing is a move too - reserved for when your hand is huge and a bet would only scare the money off.
When almost nothing can beat you and a bet only chases the action away, checking is the move - a slow-play invites the bluffs a bet would have folded out.