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Slow Playing in Poker Tournaments

While there has been a sudden surge in slow playing articles and guides lately, there has been a lack of articles explaining how to use slow playing in different poker situations. In regular cash play slow playing is rather self-explanatory, but in tournaments it is requires a tweaked and mostly different strategy altogether, something that many players aren't aware of. The two main differences that I am going to cover here that a player should be aware of are as follows:

• - Base your decision to slow play on the pot odds rather than cards


• - Slow play on cards with additional draw potential, and count on the draw

Pot Odds
Pot odds are a considerable factor to anyone who's playing poker. The basis of pot odds is that the larger the pot is, the more often you should play your hand. For example, if you would normally fold on a high pair from the turn when someone else bets high, it would be wise to call if the pot had grown large. Pot odds are also directly related to the amount of players in the game, so once again if you are in a big pot with only a few players, you have what's called good pot odds.

Using pot odds in slow playing is a key tactic, which becomes even more important during tournament play. In tournaments you are fighting against two things to win; the time left before the blinds raise, and the other players chip stacks. Slow playing can gain you an advantage in both of those areas if played correctly. Make sure you have the right opportunity to slow play, and use that to lure other players in with perceived pot odds. Calling and making very small raises keeps players in longer, and also pressures players to make a move before the next blind raise. This will make sure that you have more callers and raisers, resulting in a much larger win for you typical slow play.


Draw Potential
Draws become a big factor in tournaments, and oftentimes players who go for straight of flush draws will end up winning them. As a general rule of thumb I recommend to go for potentially strong draws and treat them as slow plays. This would mean that if you are one from the nut flush from the flop, you are in a prime position to slow play. Hitting that flush will obviously just about guarantee your win, and while you wait for it to come on either the turn or river, you can accumulate bets in the pot by playing it off as though you don't have the draw. This works especially well because more often than not other players will be going for the draw as well. So, learning from that, a player should slow play draws only when they have the nut draw. As a further precaution to make sure your draw has strong potential, it is recommended to play for the draw when you are one away on the flop.


Using pot odds and draw potentials while slow playing are the two most key factors to winning and gaining money while slow playing in tournaments. Using pot odds, you will easily be able to force other players to raise and call out of fear of the blinds raising. As well, using your draw potential will further increase the amount of times you can slow play in a tournament. While these two strategies are essential to slow plays in tournaments, there are other more simple tips to follow. Some of these include hitting a card you need on the turn and using that for betting, and slow playing based purely on the number of people playing rather than cards. I will be covering more on these other topics in the future though, and with the knowledge in this article, poker player should be able to improve their slow playing game dramatically.

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Slow Playing in Poker Tournaments