Slow playing powerful hands is a controversial tactic in poker, especially in QQ online tournaments. While some situations call for it, slow playing too frequently destroys your wine. The common slow-play scenario is flopping a set with a big pocket pair like QQ. Many players like checking to trap since these hands are vulnerable. It is disastrous to check strong trips frequently. You bloat the pot when you miss and fail to build it when you hit. Lead out for thin value instead. Check/raising the flop then barreling turn/river is far superior to tricky check/calls. Use pot-controlling lead bets with big sets.
Check/raising two pair+
Slow playing good hands like sets, straights, and two pairs is more effective since you won’t face large reverse implied odds. On wet boards with draws, check the top two pairs or better elicit huge pots by the river. The key is to get stacks in by the river through bet sizing. Using this play sparingly against aggro opponents at low stakes is quite powerful if they stack off. Similar to the above, slow playing to raise the flop or turn works well against opponents who c-bet too frequently. By checking strong holdings on good boards for their range, you put in a delayed semi-bluff raise against their likely continuation bet. Be wary of boards where you have just top-pair-type hands, however. Only slow play the strongest holdings this way.
Beware when deep stacked
When effective stacks are very deep (200BB+), slow playing becomes higher variance and more likely to fail. The larger stacks mean more streets of potential draws for your opponent. Their pot odds for draws improve while your implied odds diminish. With very deep stacks, take a more aggressive bet/raise line with your strongest hands to build pots while you still have fold equity. Don’t get outdrawn for your whole stack. Against opponents who barrel aggressively with wide ranges, slow play almost always backfires. Their relentless aggression means your monsters face excessive reverse implied odds. They will continue firing three streets regardless. Check/raising only means you must call huge bets on bad runouts. Take the betting lead against aggro players rather than surrendering it.
Use selectively against bad players
Loose passive fish make great targets for infrequent slow playing when conditions warrant. Their calls are inelastic and they rarely adjust to different bet sizings. Just avoid making a habit of it. Mixing in normal qq onlinebets with your strongest hands keeps them guessing. Only slow play with strong cards that withstand many turn runouts. Vulnerable top kicker hands fare poorly when slow played, as better top pairs and draws will likely call. Don’t get cute with one-pair-type holdings. Bet them for value or as bluffs and get stacks in while you still have fold equity.
