Slow playing is a deceptive play in poker where a player bets weakly or passively with a strong holding. It is the opposite of fast playing. A flat call can be a form of slow playing. The objective of slow playing is to lure opponents into a pot who might fold to a raise, or to cause them to bet more strongly than they would if the player had played aggressively. Slow playing sacrificesprotection against hands that may improve and risks losing the pot-building value of a bet if the opponent also checks. David Sklansky defines the following conditions for profitable slow plays:
The free card or cheap card the player is allowing to his opponents must have good possibilities of making them a second-best hand.
That same free card must have little chance of giving an opponent a better hand or even giving them a draw to a better hand on the next round with sufficientpot odds to justify a call.
The player must believe that he will drive out opponents by showing aggression, but can win a big pot if the opponents stay in the pot.
Against observant opponents, the frequency of bluffing affects the effectiveness of slow playing, and vice versa. If a player's table image is that of an aggressive bluffer, slow playing is less important because his opponents will be more willing to call his usual bets and raises. Similarly, if a player is perceived as a "trappy" player, his bluffs are less likely to be respected because his opponents expect him to slow play his strong hands.
Check raising as a slow play
A check-raise is not necessarily a slow play. Often, the purpose of a check-raise is to drive out opponents from a pot, which is the opposite of the goal of a slow play. However, within the context of a single betting round, check-raising can be employed as a slow play. Even in games where the check-raise is not allowed, one can make other sandbagging plays such as just flat calling instead of raising with a very strong hand and then later raising.
Fishing for the overcall occurs when the last card a player is dealt makes him a very strong hand, an opponent in front of him bets, and there are more opponents yet to actbehind him. While the player might normally raise with his hand, just calling may encourage the opponents behind him to overcall when they would have folded to a raise. For this play to be used profitably, one or more conditions like the following must be met:
The original bettor is all-in and therefore has no money to call a raise.
The player is confident that the original bettor was bluffing and would not call a raise.
There are several opponents yet to act. If there is only one opponent yet to act, then getting the overcall would gain no more money than raising and having the initial bettor call.
The opponents are likely to overcall the initial bet, but not a raise. This play sacrifices the profit that might have been made from opponents who would have overcalled a raise.
A common example of fishing for overcalls occurs in High-low split games like Omaha hold 'em. If John is confident that Mary is betting a high hand, then John might flat call with his low hand to fish for overcalls rather than make it more difficult for opponents to call. If John were to raise, he and Mary would gain no profit at all if no other opponents called.
