Part: Part Six - Betting After the Flop
Slow-playing a monster
Flop
You opened and an aggressive big blind called. Flop 7♥ 2♣ 2♦ - you flop a full house (sevens full of deuces) on a bone-dry board. He checks.
You flop a near-unbeatable hand on a dry board against an aggressive opponent. Best?
WhyCheck behind. Your hand is essentially unbeatable and almost nothing can improve to beat you, so there's nothing to protect. Checking induces an aggressive opponent to bluff or barrel into you on later streets - betting now only folds out the hands you want to keep in.
What happensYou check behind. Pot stays 1,300 (6.5 BB).
Turn
Turn J♠ - and now, with you having shown weakness, the aggressive player bets into you.
Your check induced a bet. With the full house, best?
WhyCall. He's now barreling because your check looked weak - just call to keep his bluffs coming on the river, where you can raise. Raising the turn announces strength and ends the action; slow-playing a monster means letting him hang himself.
What happensYou call, he barrels the river, and you raise - he's drawing dead. You win a big pot.
With an unbeatable hand on a safe board you slow-played, inducing an aggressive opponent to bluff into you across two streets. Slow-play only when your hand is huge, the board is safe, and a bet would chase action away.
Slow-play a near-unbeatable hand on a dry board against an aggressive opponent - check to induce the bluffs that a bet would have folded out.