Re: Two Hands for Review
When the flop comes down, before you act, do you plan your actions for all streets (Ie, I am going to bet 30, if the turn blanks bet 50, if the river blanks bet 120 or im going to bet 30, if I hit a K on the turn push all in, or whatever...)? I get the feeling that you don't do this and it is fundemental IMO to being a good poker player.
When I am dealt two cards I have a loose plan for how I will play every street depending on certain flops, turns, rivers, and opponent actions and stack sizes. This is an extremely important habit to get into.
To your question. AA3r flop, opponent has $200 in chips. 30-50-120 gets him all in and gives him little opportunity t fold (against the typical avg/bad opponent with this line i would think that if he calls the flop he will rationalize calling the turn nearly 90% of the time, if he calls the turn he will rationalize calling the river 75%+ of the time and you get all his money) Your line made it way too easy to get off of his hand.
Another line I like is 35-60-105, if you can get him for that first bet here then you can probably string him along the whole way.
There are some times when a slowplay is correct, however it is much better to underuse this play than to overuse it. I believe that an extremely common mistake is FPS: slowplaying too much, check raising too much, etc. I rarely will slowplay EARLY in a NL hold'em hand, if I am going to slowplay it will be when I hit a straight or flush on the turn or river and think my opponet will bet. Slowplaying on the flop keeps the pot small and is rarely worth it.
One of the main reasons for my aversion to slowplaying might be because when I first learned the game I played PL. Thus the concept of building the pot with my big hands in order to get paid off was ingrained into me. Another important reason not to slowplay is because when a scare card pops off the deck, the villain will either beat you or be scared by it, with less money invested he will just fold when he is scared (conversely I have seen many people overbet the pot on a scare card when the pot is large, especially if it puts a 3 flush out on the turn and they dont have any cards of that suit - the same card can produce opposite reactions when the pot size is large or small.)
I am coming up with this example off of the top of my head, I am sure that a better one could be formulated so bear with me:
Imagine you are playing in a 5/5 NL game with $1000 behind and the villain has you covered and you hold 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in EP you limp in and the button raises to 25, everyone folds and you call
the flop ($55) is A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Now the hands that the villain could hold that will make you the most money are AK, AQ, AJ(to some extent), A9s, KK-TT, A2s, 22
With no draws out many people are tempted to slowplay this hand, lets see a typical line with slowplaying if the villain holds AK (the best hand he could have for your purpose other than 22)
Flop: You check, he bets 50, you raise to 150 WOAH!!!! he is thinking 2 pair or a set, he is scared!
or
Flop: You check, he bets 50, you call
Turn: T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] You bet 150 (WARNING BELLS! The stop and go is a strong play! he is nervous!)
or
Flop: You check, He checks (also slowplaying)
Turn: T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
You bet 50, he raises to 150, (concerbed about a backdoor spade draw -- if you rereraise he will fold,) you call
River: If you check he will check, so you bet 250 and he will call 66% of the time...
HOWEVER...
Ciaffone says in his book on PL and NL that 'if you bet you can have anything' this is key!
so you have 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
the flop ($55) is A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
You bet 50, Villain calls (he puts you on a weak ace most likely, with no draws out he wants to keep you around)
Turn ($155) T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
You bet 150, because you are betting and thus can have any two cards villain should think that his hand is good. He probably is a little concerned about a backdoor flush draw so raises you to 450. You can now either push or call/push but look at how much more money is in the pot because you built the pot from the flop!
Play out these hands with him holding the other cards he might have, try to see what betting pattern makes you more money.
I am having a lot of trouble thinking of a time I would slowplay the flop. I slowplay a lot more in my homegames than in a casino because the opponents know me and therefore I need to mix up my game a lot more. I slowplay in homegames because I want my opponents to fear my check and not exploit it. I would never slowplay the flop in early position in a casino as a way to make profit on that particular hand... Maybe if we are short handed late in the night I will slowplay, forgoing profit on that hand, as a method of mixing things up. I am one of the few people who does NOT slowplay quads. I have always felt that if you bet out on a tripped up flop then your opponets will put you on anyting BUT the quads. I will slowplay a flopped overfull 1/2 the time but also like betting this to build the pot. I would definitely bet out with a royal flush (its going to check around anyway) but would probably slowplay a lower straight flush...
It is my oppinion that the money that you are leaving on the table by slowplaying far outweighs the money that you are picking up. If I were you I would do the following drill. Dont slowplay the flop for an entire month. This will break you out of your bad habit and will show you the great advantages of fastplaying big hands. If you decide to try this out please make sure to get back to us with your results, I would bet a large sum that they will be positive.
(I walk up the slope every day, and damn is it cold)
Hope this helps
-Steve
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