When is it okay to slowplay a monster?

when you dont think its likely your opponent will draw out on you. and when you feel it is the best path to get all the monies

If you have to ask this question, the answer is "never".

FAQ: Should I Slowplay?

Great post CMAR, one q though - you don't address the rare situation when you flop a complete monster (ie. quads, full house). What is your opinion on slowplaying these kinds of hands?

You should only slowplay against an aggresive opponent that likes to bluff on straight/flush boards. It is harder to slow play monsters at cash games than in a tournament I find, the best way to attempt a slow play is when a unthreatening card comes on turn or river and half pot bet, if everyone folds then watch what other players are doing to get there best hands paid see what the standard bet sizing is to get your monsters paid off and adjust to that bet size.

Basically, against an aggressive opponent in a dry board.

My personal opinion is that "monster" hands (ie. quads) are one of the few groups of hands that you should almost always slowplay. If you're holding JJ on a JJ6 board, the only action you are going to get is villains firing with complete air (or missed pockets, or very rarely a flopped boat).

Checking for free cards can give them a chance to hit their Ax/Kx hands, believe they may be good and bring some chips into the pot.

This would be a bit dependent on both the villain and your personal image however, if you have a history at the table of cbetting every flop and you know that the villain is likely to raise you simply because he doesn't believe you've hit the board even if he has nothing, then a bet could be in order. Otherwise, check check check.

Whether you should slowplay or not is entirely dependent on the board texture, your opponents likely range and you're opponents playing style.

Flop a monster against an aggro player is can sometimes be ok to let him do the betting for you.

Slowplaying can also be effective when you absolutely crush a board ie. you hold AK on an AK2 board. It's unlikely you're opponent has much of this, so slowplaying the flop can get you some value on later streets, by either villain bluffing at the pot, or picking up a pair or draw on the turn.

On the reverse side, if you flop a monster on a board that villain likely has a piece of ie, you hold 55 on a AQ5 board against an UTG raiser, you should be going for 3 streets of value.

Also you're question is very vague perhaps some examples might help.

not a very good idea at low stakes because people don't 3 barrel bluff very often. most of the time you slowplay to the river, then put in a big raise, it's easy for your opponent to fold even the top of his range, because when was the last time you bluff shoved the river? you would do a lot better to raise the flop, or bet bet bet, because those lines dont polarize your range to nuts only.

of course it depends on your game and your image, and i don't know how you play exactly, but most people never check 3 street with the nuts, and very rarely check/raise bluff the river, and if even if you think you do, you probably don't.

Fwiw, I posted one on here recently where I got (some) good feedback (and also some general flogging, go figure).

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...logged-872245/

According to the score sheet above (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...umber=12207441), the situation would have scored +8. But I must note with amusement that the way the table scores these things, the average hand defaults to +50-100/ with 10 -- being NEVER EVER SLOWPLAY.

But yeah, agree with the posts above (and most in my thread)--MORE$$ to get called down three streets with TPGK, than hope for the one dude to make a play on a later street.

Yeah, that's kinda the point.

The purpose of that post is to overcome Fancy Play Syndrome which afflicts so many n00bs. Obviously anyone who knows what they're doing is never going to refer to any sort of chart or table. So that table is just to point out many of the factors involves and reinforce the idea of only slowplaying when you have a specific reason to do so and not just because it looked cool when Ivey did it on TV.

Great posts CMAR

yeah, the question sorta reminds me of the adage about price, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

The problem with most noobs is they have very little understanding of table dynamics, villian typecasting, reads, and their own image. And these factors are incredibly important when considering whether or not you should slow play.

One of my favorite slow plays is vs a couple of villains I know extremely well.
These villains will squeeze ANY 'let's build a pot' preflop donk raise. Last week i'm on the BTN with KK and one of these villains is in the BB. UTG calls, UTG+1 says, "Lets build a pot" and raises 2BB, 3 players call, I call, and sure enough villain in the BB shoves all-in for 50BB. I call, board is dry, he turns over KJo, I win with KK.

[x] Beat
[x] +EV
[x] classic at 1/2 tables
[x] envious of that specific opportunity

The only time i've really slowplayed is when I flopped quad 10's with 4 other players to act behind me. The board was 1010A which was awesome considering I knew someone would lead out with an ace and anyone on a flush/straight draw would call...

I called every street and 3x raised the river and ended up stacking 2 players off.