betting out big hands in small limits

[heykev]

I was always under the impression that slow playing big hands was proper. When I use to play 10-20 & 20-40 it might have been proper but now that I am a working man I play alot less and play home games b/c they are closer. I have been playing a 5-10 game 2 nights a week with the same cast of players. There isn't more than 2 players in the game that I respect for there play. The game started out being as loose a game could possible be. It has since tightened a little but still a loose game. I have definitely had to adjust my play for this game. But I find myself making money every time I play. I think one reason for this is I am maximizing my winning hands. Instead of performing the great check raise I have been betting out and letting 2 to 5 players pay me off with there weak hands. I have found myself loving the statement "I can't let you get away with not showing it.", that is fine with me give me one more big bet everytime. I understand there are definite scenarios were slow playing exists, but in a game with 5 fish I think my observation is correct. Any comments?

[Jezebel]

Sounds good to me. In this type of game you loosen up on your value bets and tighten up on your bluffs.

In a tight game you loosen up on your bluffs and tighten up on your value betting.

[Bob T.]

I like playing big hands fast, because:

1 - they don't believe you have it.
2 - a lot of players will take one off on the flop with very little, it is easy to capture a bunch of small bets, and once the big bets start coming they show a little discretion, especially if the pot is small.
3 - Sometimes someone who calls, makes a second best hand later on, and you win a really big pot.
4 - sometimes someone who flopped a second best hand big hand also slowplays, and you don't maximize your win.
5 - to paraphrase Tommy Angelo, I bet enough when I don't have it, I damn well am going to bet when I do.
6 - You want them to think that one of the possibilities when you bet, is that you do have it, so they have to fold to all your other bets.

[LetsRock]

Obviously, much of this depends on your opponents and your table image. If you're playing with loose calling stations that don't "get it" that you're probably not bluffing this will work all day/night long.

Sometimes they'll catch on and you'll have to slow-play a few hands or get caught trying to buy, then you can go back to strong betting again.

If you're playing with players with more of a clue, it won't work as well for big hits, but you can buy more little pots along the way cause they all run away when you bet! I'm rarely disapointed winning pots with my big hands even if they're not as big as they could be - at least they didn't get drawn out!

[Louie Landale]

The only time I can think of that slow-playing is routinely correct is when the opponents are clever brain-dead types who will put you on a hand early and stick to it no matter what.

Even slow-playing against hyper aggresive types rarely yeilds more than one extra bet.

Slow-playing against weak loose types is a disaster of the first magnitude. You rarely make any extra money and when you do, its only pennies. This is ESPECIALLY true against routeine LL types who are going to call on the flop "one time", but fold on the turn. "Slow Play" in that situation is completely inconsistent with reality.

And in addition to all that; if you routinely slow-play the observant folk will figure out your hand isn't that good when you DO bet.

Having said all that, there ARE situations where slow-playing is correct. [1] You've got a monster (like a set) and the RHO bets into you. If you just call, hehehe, the opponents are likely to call one bet but not two bets if you raise; [2] you've got an invulnerable monster and the opponents don't have enough to call even one bet.

- Louie

[JTG51]

Louie, as usual, hit the slowplay stuff right on the head. I'll just add to your check raising vs betting comments.

Keep in mind that there are two reasons to check raise. To build a pot (if the bet comes from your left) and to knock players out by forcing them to call 2 bets cold (if the bet comes from your right). So, check raising to protect a good but vulnerable hand from early position is often good if you think a late position player will bet.