Slow Play Torture

[jstnrgrs]

Party .5/1
I get Kd 5s in BB
2 MP limpers, I check
flop: K 4 9 (2 hearts)
I bet, one limper calls the other folds
turn: 7s
Bet call
river: 3c
Bet call
My opponent shows AK and takes the pot.

The thing that gets me about this is that if our positions were reversed, I would not have made as much as he did. I would have raised pre-flop (which likely would have knocked him out right there). I would have raised the flop (which might have caused a fold on the turn.
Hands like this make me wonder if it is a good idea to play everything fast at these low limits (which is what I have been doing).

Comments are appreciated.

[tj00]

If you were reversed. He would probably call your pre-flop raise. He would call your flop raise, turn bet, river bet. No player in the history of party microlimits has laid down top pair on a ragged board /images/graemlins/wink.gif. You will make 1 BB more than he will.

[Ed Miller]

Ok, what if, instead of playing like a sweaty gym sock, your opponent is a tricky player and would sometimes raise you at some point as a semi-bluff. Then you lose more on this hand, not less, because you actually have to pay off his raise.

If your point is, "Wow, I wish my opponent were so predictable that had raised me, I'd know that my top pair was no good in this shorthanded pot and be able to throw it away safely. That would be very profitable!" then yes, you are correct. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You are much better off playing with Mister Soggy Biscuit here than you would be against, say, Clarkmeister who doesn't bother to look at his cards before it's at least five bets on the flop.

And by the way, what makes you think that your low limit opponent would fold K5o from the blind? Or that he would ever even consider folding top pair? You make more money by playing fast, not less, because your opponents call too much at these limits. If all your opponents played like you, you wouldn't make much money, now would you?

[crockpot]

this is not a slowplay. it's a 'no-play'. it's only a slowplay if he was setting you up to win more bets later in the hand. be glad your opponent does not take more money from you on hands like this.

[chesspain]

When my wife asks me to look at her hand history after she loses money in a like this, I tell her:

1) Be thankful that you didn't lose more money
2) Be thankful that he gave you a chance to pair your kicker

In the long run, you will have a more positive EV over this type of opponent than one who correctly charges you when he has a better, but vulnerable hand.