2.1.09

Slow playing monster hands

The art of the slow play is a learned skill just like all the others. The goal is to maximize the number of chips you can extract when you have the nuts. This usually occurs once you see the flop and know to a very large degree of certainty that you will win the hand at showdown. When I flop a monster hand, I want to consider a few things first:

  1. How many chips are available for extraction?
  2. Where are you in the tournament / what is the blind level in relation to chip stacks?
  3. What is your image preflop, did you raise or did you call a raise?
  4. How many callers?
  5. How active have you been recently?
  6. What is my position on the preflop caller(s)?

Here's a hand where I flopped the nuts and I was the preflop raiser. I had been very aggressive up to this point and hit a good hand earlier on (flopping top set with Jacks) and essentially doubled up during the first level. If you were not the preflop raiser, then a different line might be required to maximize value.

Full Tilt Poker Game #9808695816: $24 + $2 KO Sit & Go (74643941), Table 7 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:09:04 ET - 2009/01/02
Seat 1: BlueSparta300 (2,985)
Seat 2: Schaubs (5,850)
Seat 3: YZFRI (3,040)
Seat 4: He trap me (2,850) <---- oh, the irony...
Seat 5: win17ga (2,880)
Seat 6: Wilma Dikfitt (2,915)
Seat 7: RedSoxSukAss (720)
Seat 8: foxymoron123 (2,880)
Seat 9: zzzhorses (2,880)
win17ga posts the small blind of 15
Wilma Dikfitt posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Schaubs [3s 3c]
RedSoxSukAss folds
foxymoron123 has 15 seconds left to act
foxymoron123 folds
zzzhorses folds
BlueSparta300 folds
Schaubs raises to 105 <--- generally a standard raise in MP.
YZFRI folds
He trap me has 15 seconds left to act
He trap me calls 105
win17ga folds
Wilma Dikfitt calls 75
*** FLOP *** [3d Qs 3h] <---- DQB give me your chips sucka.
Wilma Dikfitt checks
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs checks <---- a cbet might be called for later in the tournament, but it is early and I want to give them a chance to gift me some chips by catching up on the turn. I am also in between two players and the button is yet to act.
He trap me bets 330 <---- I show weakness, so he bets.
Wilma Dikfitt folds
Schaubs calls 330 <---- so sneaky.
*** TURN *** [3d Qs 3h] [7s] <---- the card of death.
Schaubs checks He trap me has 15 seconds left to act
He trap me checks <---- he's so trappy.
*** RIVER *** [3d Qs 3h 7s] [4s]
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs checks<---- checking the third time takes balls. Value betting might be considered. Again, it depends on your answers to the questions above.
He trap me bets 1,000
Schaubs raises to 2,000 <---- LOL, I min-raise, which was an error on my part, he's not going anywhere, so just get his chips in there, especially when it is a knockout tourney... 4 bucks!
He trap me raises to 2,415, and is all in
Schaubs calls 415
*** SHOW DOWN ***
He trap me shows [7d 7c] a full house, Sevens full of Threes
Schaubs shows [3s 3c] four of a kind, Threes <---- Trap this!
Schaubs wins the pot (5,820) with four of a kind, Threes
He trap me stands up
The blinds are now 20/40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,820 Rake 0 <---- why do they show the rake in tournaments anyway? Dumb.
Board: [3d Qs 3h 7s 4s]
Seat 1: BlueSparta300 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Schaubs showed [3s 3c] and won (5,820) with four of a kind, Threes
Seat 3: YZFRI didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: He trap me (button) showed [7d 7c] and lost with a full house, Sevens full of Threes
Seat 5: win17ga (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Wilma Dikfitt (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: RedSoxSukAss didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: foxymoron123 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: zzzhorses didn't bet (folded)

Thoughts?

This all seems pretty basic, but just remember the goal is to get them to commit as many chips as possible.

4 comments:

Fuel55 said...

If the turn isnt a 7, then what?

SirFWALGMan said...

Ya you fucking retard. (heh). Seriously though that hand played itself. It was good to check on the flop to let him catch but after that when he caught you coulda jammed in the turn.. you coulda done anything.. he is not folding what a good percentage of the time is gonna be the nuts.

Simon said...

ni han, ni han

but who traps with 77?

Alan aka RecessRampage said...

After the turn, it wouldn't matter what you do. You could open shove and he'd call. You could both be 500BBs deep and he'd still call. Sometimes, the cards play themselves out.