This is How You Slowplay in Poker (Got ALL His Chips)

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Do you ever slowplay? Also, check out my latest video on how much money poker players actually make these days: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moGndYRppZJppMk

[@camsnow9822]

Love the slowplay line. My fav player type to slowplay... is actually a nit when they have the lead. Against nitty but thinking players, id strongly consider flatting AA or KK on the button against and letting them bet worse overpairs or tptk for 3 streets when i have them crushed.

[@mikefaz5374]

Hey Nathan, i am a huge fan of your training material and the books you've written. Your website is full of interesting well written articles. These videos are great, thanks for all your valuable help!

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Thanks Michael glad I could help!

[@fundiver198]

Hi Nathan thanks for reviewing my hand. Completely forgot about this one, but yeah it was a funny one. Glad to hear you agree with the line apart from the 3-bet sizing. Best regards, Lars.

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Glad it was helpful Lars! Thanks for sending me this hand.

[@pokergeniusordonkey6517]

I agree, stack size is one off the most reliable clues to fishiness. However, I am encountering more regular players who are buying in for 50 or 60 BB. My theory is, they are trying to arrive looking slightly fishy, and they know their stack size can make some awkward spots for good players. Often, their first move at the table is to 3-bet a decent reg (like myself) and force us into a 4-bet / fold decision. It's not a bad strategy, as they must be picking up some easy uncontested chips with some 3-bet semi-bluff hands. When I suspect it may be this kind of strategy, I have sometimes adjusted by creating a gap in my range of hands, so that I am playing mostly the easy 4-bet jams, and easy fold hands.

[@fundiver198]

I see it a little bit on PokerStars as well. I guess, it can be some sort of bankroll management thing as well? Like their bankroll really only allow them to comfortably play 5NL, but they want to play 10NL, and by only buying in for 40-60BB, they can reduce their variance.

[@pokergeniusordonkey6517]

Barry Greenstein was recently on a show where he made some interesting points about buying in for the minimum, because most player don't know what to do against a short stack, and after a big pot against the fish, the fish doesn't win or lose enough to get up and leave the game. Barry talked about how he buys in short, and tries to build a really good game. Now, of course, this works better at live medium stakes games with lots of recreational money on the table.

[@fundiver198]

Poker Genius Or Donkey I think, cashing out is more of a live poker phenomenon. Many recreational players only go to the casino once in a while, and they are perhaps not probably bankrolled to play even the lowest stakes. So it makes sense for them to use some sort of stop win strategy. Whereas if you play 2-10 NL online, the whole idea of a stop win seem a bit silly, and I dont think, many people use it. As for playing with a shorter stack in online games, I have experimented with it in the past, and it does not really work for me. The main issue is, that as soon as you win a big pot, you are no longer short stacked, so to really use the strategy, you have to leave a table, as soon as that happen. Which is not really something, I want to do, since table selection is a big part of the game for me. Also when stacks get down to 40 BB, it takes away a lot of leverage points. If you catch any significant piece of the flop, often times you just have to go with your hand and get it in as fast as possible. So the game become a lot more mechanical, as you see in MTT´s. As for buying in short to put a fish label on yourself, I assume, that if a reg think, I am fishy, then he want to get involved more with me, especially in position. And that is like the last thing, I want to happen, because it forces me to play more pots out of position. It also give other regs more incentive to 3-bet, which again is not exactly good for business, especially not when you are trying to run a LAG style, as I do.

[@kevshelby1679]

I think it's more because of the fear to loose. Most short stack regs rely more on their post flop ''skills" like having a high pair and commit. But imo there is no way you will ever improve your game to a certain level. It can be a very good way to start out becoming good at Poker. Because it creates a bit more comfort. But as I mentioned in the end you should break out of it.

[@jesseengland5967]

I tend to mainly slowplay at NL2 when my opponents stack to pot ratio is 2 to 1 or less. Even if it checks through on the flop we can likely still play for his stack with 2 streets of value.

[@ModMotorMayhem]

very well played hand by hero. Love the flop check on that board.

[@Dariusknight]

Well played, what else is there to say, even if he was betting the flop with trips or better you're still going to call regardless so either way the money was always getting in by the turn. Always nice to get paid on a big hand and not have to even do anything to really get it but let him bluff his stack away.

[@fundiver198]

Are you sure, his turn bet was a bluff? After all its hard to have a pair, and he had two….. LOL

[@Dariusknight]

Well he THOUGHT he had the best hand lol, that 8 looked a lot better on the turn than the 5... it's just too bad for him you were hoping he had something he was willing to put in the rest of his .70.

[@fundiver198]

Dariusknight I think, bad players often have problems recognizing the existence of pocket pairs in their opponents range, because they are not visible on the board. There was another recent video, where a bad player cold called a 3-bet preflop and then jammed the flop with 54 on 533 board, after Hero putted out a C-bet with AA. Sure that could be bluff. But its more likely in my opinion, he went something like “LOL AK missed, so I am good”. So yeah. I also think, this guy figured, he hit the jackpot on the turn and was betting for value/protection. Its hard to say, if I would have gotten his last 70c on any other turn card than exactly an 8.

[@Dariusknight]

Well again, he basically potted the flop with nothing, since you didn't jam on him he rightly probably assumed you didn't have Jx and thought that a shove on the turn might make you fold a small pocket pair or AK/AQ/AT. Then again, bad players be bad players and play badly good for us... (now there's some circular logic for you)

[@joeregan63]

Yeah I do this stuff live too. When you can get the money in with two streets, then losing a round of betting isn’t a disaster. Even if villain checks behind flop, he now hits an 8 and we can get all of his money that way.

[@Dark_Angel555]

Cool play... most of the times fishes don't potbet flop if they have trips... was sure he has some silly bluff

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Ya I agree, I love when they pot bet cuz it pretty much gives away their hand.

[@fundiver198]

Maybe its not quite, how it felt, when I played the hand. But I really smiled, when Nathan said "I am almost counting the money already". You gotta love 2NL and these really bad players :-)

[@cednissaart6491]

I read all the comments and it looks like I’m the only one worrying about this JJ5 flop. In my experience fish can bomb the flop with any nonsense of course, but also with any Jack. It’s quite confusing to me: I would feel like a fish if I XC with an overpair and get beaten by an obvious Jack. Am I missing something here?

[@fundiver198]

Given stack sizes and player type I am not able to fold KK in a spot like this. So if he has a J and sucked out on me, good for him. The idea with checking is to keep his range wider, so we compensate for the times, he has JX and stack us, by also winning at least some money from him, when he have something else. And since he have a ton of hands, that missed the flop completely, its kind of an ideal spot to check and induce bluffs.

[@cednissaart6491]

fundiver198 yeah makes sense. I guess I’m used too much to bet fold spots like these. Btw aren’t you too good for 2NL?

[@fundiver198]

Cedric Luther I started playing online poker again after a year long break, so I found it natural to start out with 2NL again to get back into the rytm. I only stayed at 2NL for a few weeks though, and am currently playing 10NL and 16NL. The alternative line here is to lead for something like 35-45% pot. This force Villain to call with most of his range, if he want to play correct poker. This could be a good line against someone with a narrow range like 99-QQ, AK, who we could then suck more and more into the pot. However when Villain has a very wide range, most of which missed completely, then his likely mistake against a small bet is to fold way to much. Which is rather pointless, when we are trying to bet for value. And this is why, in my opinion, the check to induce line is better here against someone like this. I will also say, that if we go for the small bet and get raised, then we have to snap it off. A small bet on a paired board can certainly induce bluff raises, and why would he raise a J on the flop, when he can just call and easily get the rest in on the turn and river? So if you lead here for 15-20c, and he makes it 45-50 to go, then you HAVE to give it action. Otherwise you are allowing aggressive opponents to completely run you over with bluffs. After all as the preflop 3-better, do you ever have a J here? Most likely not, and then KK-AA are the best hands, you can ever show up with. Also dont feel stupid, because you are trying to catch a bluff, and the Villain has value. The goal in poker is not to guess Villains hand every single time, its to make money in the long run. And if for instance we are calling even a pot sized bet on the river, we only need to be good 1 out of 3 times. So dont feel, you did something wrong, because you call on a board like this, and the Villain show a J. As long as you are playing your range correctly, you did nothing wrong. If the Villain only ever bet with a J, then he is the one, who is playing badly.

[@SparkySubie]

What others have said to you is correct. The fish hold that jack so infrequently you will be fine value betting here. Unfortunately because the board is paired it means it's also less likely that there is a worse hand that will call you. I often have much better bluff equity on paired boards because I know it's slightly less likely somone has paired with it. A small bet on a board like this (even if you have nothing) works great against fit or fold recs

[@jeffreypeterson3238]

What I don't get here Nathan is you don't mention that Villain 2 could have the ace which is why he checked. I would check as well as the A is a scared card for ME not villian. Can you explain what this was not mentioned? Thx.

[@johntrucano8186]

What stakes have you found where players become more aware of what's happening at the table and are more risk averse?

[@SparkySubie]

I get something like a 70% fold rate from BU villains with my SB 3 bets vs. BU at NL2 and even if I get called I get them to fold like 60% of the time postflop if I cbet. I'm really starting to believe flatting may be the more lucrative strategy. I don't know if that's a mistake but I seriously get way more fold equity then you imply there is in all your videos and books, stations are almost non-existent, and everyone usually gives up by the turn when I have top pair. I honestly make more by just checking the turn after cbetting the flop small to induce a bluff on the river or turn.

[@Dimkee100]

Well played!!

[@vlad1mir100here]

Hi, Nathan. Thank you for these videos! But you better teach people how to SPOT SLOWPLAYS and lose LESS with strong hands (vs enemies' ranges). And especially when Hero heavily VALUE-triple-barrels enemy range (looking on what cards come on all streets and imagines his equity vs the most prevailing hand groups in that range), puts 70%+ of the stack into the pot and gets a raise on the river. Or even without a raise sees a better hand which the enemy held yet since latter streets. With your great experience, you definitely ran into many series of slowplays, like e.g. QQ+ into J53r9r5s, and saw endless sets and "garbage"-dopers (like 59 (even offsuit)). Yet the EV line falls down vertically on all of them. Like you just gifted your money to opponents. So, many would like to watch a video where you teach how to spot SLOWPLAYS and lose less.

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Thanks Vladimir!

[@ditaalin76]

Îs not too much slow playing kk în nl2? This îs The haven place, call ing station teritory... Why most slow playing? 😂Love ur videos and sry my bad english

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Thanks glad my videos help. I would not suggest slowplaying KK very often at NL2. But once in awhile against the right type of player it can be ok.

[@fundiver198]

I am not even sure, I would really call this a slowplay, since KK was not exactly the nuts after the flop. Its more, that he either had me crushed with a J or 55, or he was way behind and drawing to a few outs at most. Also with these stack sizes 2 streets of betting was enough to get all the money in, so checking the flop did not even limit the size of the final pot.

[@DJcyberslash]

I don't understand why you would not be worried about a jack

[@jeffreypeterson3238]

The other point here is Villain's play. I would normally bet big on the flop, even all in (before i got burned so many times i stopped doing that), but, as you mention, at these steaks, you get called on everything. If i bet big, i invariably get called and then get fucked by that flush. If I slowplay I still get fucked. I get fucked a lot. lol. I'm really confused as to when to get aggressive. I am a tight aggressive player. But I am saving a lot of money buy not going all in, in case i get sucked out.

[@andthereisntone1]

Do you still play the micros?

[@BlackRain79Poker]

Yes all the time.

[@MrBlack-wt5er]

I think the maniac bet because he had an ace and didn't know hero had a big pair....

[@SasquatchSea]

Fold

[@pavliga]

But the fish could have a J...

[@hectorhugofernandez5992]

Micro stakes is no poker