when should you slow play trips and when not

The conventional wisdom is that it is rarely worth slowplaying anything less than trips. Whilst this is a clear oversimplification (i once successfully slowplayed 9 high) it is a good general rule.

Like all rules though it is a rule that experienced players can break.

The question does remain when should you and when should you not slow play trips. I think this is a really interesting topic as quite often big $$ are up for grabs.

here is an obvious case of where you probably should slow play trips

VERY early in a 10$ MTT you get 66 and call a raise to 90 with 2 others (blinds 15/30)
Flop comes 6210 rainbow. Sometimes thoughyou know you could get more action by betting here but often slow playing will be correct.

ok same hand but this time it is later on in the tourney and the blinds are 400/800 and everyone at the table has 6k in chips this time it is a raise to 1600 that gets 2 other calls. This time it is a bit more complicated. There is say 5600 in the pot. Just getting the pot would be good and you do not want straights/ flushes higher trips being caught.

This hand is a bit less clear cut.

What if the flop was js10s6d ? here to me your situation is not so good. First there are two overcards so over trips are possible but more importantly there are few cards that will give you further action that could not be beating you. If there is an ace on the turn someone could have kq and get a straight. Any spade and you are going to be a little worried. At the same time the pot is large enough that you are likely to get a bet from someone in a 10$ game. Position will obviously be important here.


Finally this is a hand i slowplayed I would say correctly based on reads but you might dissagree. I have 22 and call a single raise from the sb and the big blid folds. the blinds are high and this is a live game so reads are better than normal. There are about 4 of us left but i KNOW he has highish cards.

Flop 2d10dqs I suspect if i go all in he will will be a toss up whether he calls or not but that if i check i know given his passive nature that he will call a bet on the turn if i wish it.

I check and he checks - know he would bet if he has anything but i am confident from the way he is that he has a diamond in his hand (probably the ace)
Turn is a diamond. I put him on a flush plus a belly buster straight and am sure he will call if i bet but i am equally sure that he will call on the river what ever happens. River is a diamond. I check he folds.

This pot was cheap enough in terms of the action and i was making sure i didnt lose a game that i would probably win if i fold. Given my reads i would stick with the play - anything else and i would have lost ( we was calling any bet on the flop with adjx) - as it was a friendly game i showed my cards. I went on to win the game.

any more comments on what are good positions to slowplay or not to slow play trips?

I dont like to slowplay a set when there are two cards to a flush or 3 cards to a straight on the flop. When you do I think youre making two mistakes. By allowing people to draw cheaply, you are setting yourself up for a loss, also you are not maximizing your profit if you win. When the board contains cards to draw to you want to make it expensive for your opponents to continue. I think its fine to slow play a rainbow flop or a flop that doesnt have 3 cards to a straight. If the turn brings 2 to a flush or 3 to a straight, I think its time to turn up the heat again.

And I think its correct to slowplay 9 high about 99% of th time. lol

Remember this one from the Leaders vs Helpers game.

POKERSTARS GAME #6310678079: TOURNAMENT #31618377, $10+$1 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL II (15/30) - 2006/09/16 - 19:21:45 (ET)
Table '31618377 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: J0NAH (1275 in chips)
Seat 2: Scottishben (1635 in chips)
Seat 3: NoBigKicker (1465 in chips)
Seat 4: SonnyChiba06 (1550 in chips)
Seat 5: PokerRef (1605 in chips)
Seat 6: Grumbar (1005 in chips)
Seat 8: alli2132 (2780 in chips)
Seat 9: BSQUAD2001 (2185 in chips)
PokerRef: posts small blind 15
Grumbar: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PokerRef [7d 7c]
Scottishben said, "course i would do the same if i was before you mate as well"
alli2132: calls 30
BSQUAD2001: folds
J0NAH: folds
Scottishben: folds
NoBigKicker: folds
SonnyChiba06: folds
PokerRef: calls 15
Grumbar: checks
*** FLOP *** [3c Kh 7s]
alli2132 said, "he didnt go out first this time "
PokerRef: checks
Grumbar: checks
alli2132: checks
*** TURN *** [3c Kh 7s] [6h]
PokerRef: checks
Grumbar: checks
alli2132: bets 90
PokerRef: calls 90
Grumbar: folds
*** RIVER *** [3c Kh 7s 6h] [Kd]
BSQUAD2001 said, "Damnit homes its me again"
PokerRef: bets 150
J0NAH said, "evening all - just going out for a drink just saying hi as passing play a couple of hands"
alli2132: raises 450 to 600
PokerRef: raises 885 to 1485 and is all-in
alli2132: calls 885
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PokerRef: shows [7d 7c] (a full house, Sevens full of Kings)
alli2132: shows [6c 6s] (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
PokerRef collected 3240 from pot
alli2132 said, "ewww that is just plain mean"
BSQUAD2001 said, "ooooooh nice"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3240 | Rake 0
Board [3c Kh 7s 6h Kd]
Seat 1: J0NAH folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Scottishben folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: NoBigKicker folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SonnyChiba06 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: PokerRef (small blind) showed [7d 7c] and won (3240) with a full house, Sevens full of Kings
Seat 6: Grumbar (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 8: alli2132 showed [6c 6s] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Kings
Seat 9: BSQUAD2001 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

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i think trips are slowplayed too much to be honest. Ive seen trips busted by flushes/straights etc before because the player was trying to be sneaky.

Take for example a newish player who thinks hes gus hansen and bets out at the pot whenever he hits middle or top pair. If the guy checks and then starts calling all of your large raises your obviously gonna think the guy has something....so if he put in a huge reraise at the end youd probably drop it. Put simply....if someone bets middle or top pair every time then i think its a smart move for them to not slowplay them all the time because people will think theyre loose anyways and will probably call with marginal hands (im not ruling out slowplaying though...bear that in mind)

Obviously this is a somewhat simplistic example however it does illustrate that agressive players in particular should slowplay less than tighter players simply because they will get action on their raises

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Fo me it depends on which trip I hit. The highest card I will always slow play unless there is a one card draw for a flush or str8. If I'm holding the 2nd or 3rd trip cards then a minimum or 2x bb bet will be put out to see who might have caught the high card pair and then increase my bets on the turn and river according to the cards that come. I don't really concern myself with someone catching a higher set, just with the flushes and Str8s, unless its a player I'm familiar with setting traps with his inviting bets. Right Fonz, LOL.

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No Room For Dead Beats!

"I dont like to slowplay a set when there are two cards to a flush or 3 cards to a straight on the flop. When you do I think youre making two mistakes. By allowing people to draw cheaply, you are setting yourself up for a loss, also you are not maximizing your profit if you win" - wickedroller

whilat i generally agree with this there are exceptions in my view. If you are up against an ultra passive player who will call anyway and you read as having a draw you are often better to let someone draw in a tourney than damage your stack when they hit. I think it is quite often worth defending against draws more on the turn than on the river. This is particularly true in low stakes games. lets say there is a few 100 in the pot and everyone has 2k in chips there are some players that will call any bet on the flop with a flush draw. If they didnt do the same on the turn then getting all in on the flop would be fine but if you a) read someone as passive (very to call any bet you put their way) and b) on a draw then it is sometimes worth giving them a draw than risking a lot of chips. A bet on the turn will give them less scope to catch if they call.

Also if you are in a pot with NOTHING in it and everyone has big stacks then i think it is correct to slowplay even with draws generally. The reason for this is that the pot is not worth protecting compared to what you will get if someone gets a top pair/good kicker that they are attached to.

As for the slowplaying 9 high - i did call his all in with it after lol - its amazing what you can do read wise when you have a guy at your table for a while getting into showdowns with plenty of other people and an ultrapredictable playing style. It was on a final table which made it particularly sweet.

I think fonz has a point when it comes to sneaky play. 9 out of 10 times the straight forward way of playing a hand will either bring in more value or much less risk.

good points- also a good illustration of another difference between ring games and tourney play. I often forget that most people here think in terms of tourney play while im thinking in terms of ring game play. I agree you need to make sure you survive a bad beat in tourney play. While the set will hold up or improve more than it will lose, it is profitable long term in ring game play to risk your stack, but must be played more carefully in a tourney.