I've been told by friends that I need to slow down when I flop big but at $1/$2 NL, I find people are willing to call with just about anything.

Here are two hands that I recently played that I was told I should have checked the flop:

Hand 1
Limped pot. I get Ac 4c in the blind. Bunch of limpers so I just decide to come along for the ride.

Flop comes Ax 6c 2c ... I flop top pair with the nut flush draw and decide to lead out for about $7 into a $10 pot and everyone folds around and I take it down.

Hand 2
I raise in EP to $15 with KK and flop top set on a dry board. There were 3 callers preflop and I bet $30 and everyone folds.

I think, honestly, I was just unlucky on this night that I had been showing down big hands and had built a big stack. People were hesitant to get in pots with me. One guy said to me he didn't see me lose a hand at showdown in the couple of hours he was at the table.

I think if I'm the preflop raiser, I'm almost obligated to lead the flop ... I'd say I c-bet at least 70 percent of the time, probably higher. If I don't bet the KK top set hand, it might look more suspicious than if I did.

Maybe with top pair and the nut flush draw I can check OOP and get a checkraise in on the flop. IDK.

Tonight, I flopped top set with AA on an Ax6d9d board. I bet bottom set on a Kx9d 2d board and wound up getting it all on the turn against KQo. I donk bet that into the preflop raiser who was OTB and I really didn't want to see that hand get checked through. I got the typical 'just check and let the raiser bet if he's got a hand' lecture.

Hand 1 I don't mind you leading out. You want to build pot and I expect a few callers for 7.

Hand 2 - because you lead out all flops it may look suspicious if you slow down and check. For this reason I understand why you lead out on flop. As it was a very dry board you may want to switch gears with a check and hopefully someone will bluff.

Aggressive poker is generally winning poker. Other players will know not to call you light because you will punish any draws and play big stack poker.

I think at 1-2 if you never slowplay it isn't much of a leak. Hand 1 is a bet, hand 2 a free card isn't going to hurt you unless someone slowplays a lower set and quads up so... yea pretty much never and you might want to check and let someone catch up or bluff or bet middle pair, but I don't think betting out is that bad.

I flopped top set with KK just the other day. 4 way pot to the flop, which is KT8 rainbow. I bet, get one caller. Turn is a 6. He donk-shoves, I snap, he turns up 86.

Low limit poker is juicy/profitable precisely because people are really bad at choosing when to commit their chips. Slowplaying is almost always strictly worse than an overall meta-strategy that involves betting, betting, and more betting. You will take down lots of pots uncontested, and also get your value bets called. It sounds impossible, but you can easily have super positive non-showdown and showdown profits...

On the other hand, if the flop for Hand 2 was literally something like K93, yes, you could probably check that (but who knows, maybe someone wants to call you down with TT?).

I always laugh (and die a little inside) when I see two guys check it all the way down to the river after a 4-flush hits, when they were KK v AA or set over set on the flop or something ridiculous like that.

I generally only slowplay when I'm up against an aggressive player who I'm pretty sure will try to bet me off the hand if I check. There aren't a ton of those in the 1/2 and 1/3 games I play. Most 1/2 players will call more than they will bet, so pushing hard makes sense in most cases. If they have something they will call or even raise, if they don't they won't put in another dime anyway. When you have a set of kings and raised preflop it's unlikely they'll turn or river something so big they'll suddenly want to shove all-in unless they beat you with a flush or straight.

The reason people folded in those example hands is nobody had anything.

The only hand you could have played differently is hand 1. Curious, what would you do facing a big RR when you donked out on that hand?
All the rest are standard bet and hope for some action like the KQ hand. The only time I like to trap is when I may have SC a PFR hit a monster and know the raiser will build a flop for me.

SLOWPLAYING IS THE TITS IN LIVE LOW LIMITS

Hand 1 -- I like leading out in this spot. You're looking to build a pot on every street. Your hand already has showdown value, and if/when the NFD completes, you'll lose all of your action. If you c/c, it turns your hand face up. C/r > c/c because I suspect it would block a turn bet (if turn is blank)

Hand 2 -- Leading out, again, is fine, although I would go for a smaller bet..one that says "zomg a king " probably in the 20-25 range. C/c or c/r fine, too, because we're not scared of any turn cards (if noone bets the flopp)

Slowplaying big hands OOP is no bueno. We want to get as much money in the middle as possible.