[jorpot]

so whats the secret. My non-casino games are starting to wise up. Many of the people who have been playing for years have just discovered slowplaying.


but seriously...how do you spot a slowplay. If someone has for example pocket 6's and the flop has like A-K-6 and you have a decent hand like A-9 or something how could you ever possibly put them on pocket 6s.

that is even a glorified example. How do most spot a trap? there are a few guys whom I can tell are obviously trying to trap me. But what about someone who seems to have practiced this quite a bit, how do you guys spot the slow play.

for example I was in a pot with K-Q flop was K-7-8

i bet im called

turn =5. check, bet, Im called

river=K I bet out he raises, i call. 6-9 I lose to a straight

[norshvind]

There is no "secret" to avoiding a trap. Thats the whole point. If your opponent has any kind of skill, that kind of thing is going to happen. Hopefully, you have the skill to make up for it by setting your own traps.

[johnf]

It is very hard to avoid traps. But in hands like the one you described where he is check calling no matter the size of your bet you should start to get worried, especailly when he check raises the river, thats really the only way.

[ballen]

The best way to counter this is not to do their betting for them. Hopefully, the original slowplayer who started the whole mess will eventually wise up and realize how he's only screwing himself out of a lot chips now by not betting his own hands. I've noticed they usually do start betting again after about five of their hands get absolutely no value. When they check and see everyone else check and it continues to happen they'll finally decide that "Hey, I need to get some chips in this damn pot" and start betting again.

Now, the problem here, is you won't be getting any value for your marginal hands while doing this. You can really only bet your strong hands that you know are most likely the winner. However, you need to look at the overall picture. If sacrificing some value on your own hands gets this guy to back off the slowplaying then you'll be doing yourself a huge favor in the long run.

If everyone does this though the entire games turns to crap which is what happened in our home game. It becomes a major grind since nobody is ever progressing much.

[chris]

Theres no way you were getting away from that in your 2nd example. Normally I would tell you to just watch their betting history. Whenever someone comes over the top you always should stop and ask yourself "what do I think he has?" before you call. You also have got to read how he is reading you. He probably had you on the kings the whole way so you figure when he reraises after another king comes out that there is something out there that can beat that and he is representing it. Of course he could just be holding a king.

Probably no way you are laying down those 3 kings unless you remember something about his body language when the 5 came out makes it seem like a good idea.

[petronder]

Unless you are short stacked you must aggresively bet with top pair/two pair. It is easier to see in NL or PL. In limit I would raise unless there have already been two or three (you are already beat). Most likely the one holding a set will just call unless there is a draw on the board. In my experience if there is no draw out then a reraise is most likely a bluff, especially from someone who is not shortstacked.

[DeepBlue]

Exactly, if you have any suspicions then you should play aggressively. A slow-player won't want to be involved if you suddenly make a big bet after a card is turned and may just get you out of jail.

It's hard to spot, and you will always be danger of being drawn in, but that is all part of the skill in playing.

[Chi_Town]

You want bet out if you hit top pair... that is just the way it goes. If your being trapped, you will lose something. But if you get smooth called, flags should go up. In the K78 situation, you have to consider trips, two pair with the 87s, or a staight draw (maybe T9s - 96 is a tought one to spot... he played loose and got lucky, you will usually get him in this kind of situation, so go with it).

The only way to identify the trap is to ask, what would he have called me with??? Two pair, trips, and draw??? What was the pre-flop action??? Did he limp in out of the small blind or get a free flop in the big blind??? If so, you have no idea where he is... you must bet. But the smooth call and check-call needs to automatically get you analyzing the situation.