A good hand, but still vulnerable?

[incognito]

Online no limit, .10/.25 blinds. I'm a real no limit newbie. I've played in several no limit tourneys, but only once or twice before in a ring game.

I'm dealt A [img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img] K [img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img] in early position. UTG folds, I raise to 1.00, only the blinds call.

The flop comes K [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] 2 [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] T [img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img]. I bet the pot (3.00), the other two fold.

So here's my question: should I have slow played the flop? Or gone for a check raise? If the flop was more coordinated (2-suited), I would have no problem at all with my bet, but in this case I had very little to fear from the turn. What do you think?

[Guy McSucker]

You played it fine.

An early position preflop raise says "big pair or AK". When the flop comes KT2 and you then check in last position, it says "slowplay".

You're not getting any more out of these guys unless they overtake you, in my opinion. Then again, online anything is possible.

Guy.

[ohkanada]

I wouldn't check. I would bet.

You might instead only bet 2.25 or so. Not as a slowplay but so if the flop comes Q29, you can also make the same bet.

Ken Poklitar

[aeon_blues]

There’s a critical point about this hand that has not been mentioned.

KK with an A kicker is not a slow play hand. Slow playing this kind of hand is the kind of mistake that I profit greatly from other players. The only time I slow play is when I flop trips, and the board is rainbow with no gut shot possible, also I slow play an A high flush, or a full house. Slow playing a weaker hand is a big mistake. If you don’t bet then you might get beat by any # of hands, including a weaker pair value, or a gut shot, not to mention a legitimate calling hand, like QJ. Also if you check, a free card might give someone a 4 flush. Even letting someone catch a good draw against you, can be a disastrous mistake in big bet poker. Q could turn, and give someone a 4 str8. Believe me, in the long run you’ll get plenty of action with this kind of hand, and you shouldn’t be at all unhappy to win the pot. All kinds of players will call with gut shots, and legitimate hands like QJ. I know lots of players that would never fold QJ for any bet before the river. Trust me, maximizing profit in this hand is wining the pot on the flop. Save your slow plays for hands that have very little chance of getting out drawn. Oh, and one last point is, it’s never a bad idea to bet even with a monster hand. It’s a goal in big bet poker to get your opponent all in with a weaker hand. So, if you flop a full house, your hopping that someone has trips, because that’s the player that your going to bust. and will give you a lot of action, this same player might also slow play, and in Pot limit especially, you might lose some action by not betting.

Aeon Blues

[schroedinger]

I would be interested in hearing the field's position on "It's never a bad idea to bet even with a monster hand."

note -- I would never slow play top pair, top kicker. Well, heads up on someone that I was reading like the LA Times might be something different, but other than that situation.

[clovenhoof]

Aeon gets support from the New Testament. Sklansky in Winning Poker, in his chapter on slowplaying says you slowplay strong hands but not the pure nuts, in case somebody else has a slightly smaller monster.

I think the Old Testament (Super System) says the same thing, though I can't quote chapter and verse, and Caro has written the same thing on more than one occasion.

So, my vote in the poll goes with them.

The 'hoof

[thebroker]

Nate has excellant post on slowplaying way back in the pages. Someone should bump that to the top. If I have time I'll do it this weekend.

[King_J]

I just can´t read a post as Aeon Blues one. I personally think that there is just too much text in a row. I need a section without text somewhere in the middle =)

I hope you understood me. My English isn´t the best one here for sure.