How to play a constant slow player. |
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Posted Tue Jun 29, 2004 7:23 am GMT by justthedude
One of the guys in my weekly home game has got me stumped. He slow plays almost every hand. No matter what he has it’s check and call, check and call. Then on the river it’s check and raise. Usually a huge raise. At this point, I either call him to find out he has the nuts or fold (probably with the better hand). He never show’s his cards but he’s fairly selective in his starting hands, so I know he’s not playing junk. How do you play against someone like this who is nearly impossible to read? This guy’s got me so confused that I know I’m folding the better hand against him often, but when I do call I lose big $$.
Any ideas on how to approach this?
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Posted Tue Jun 29, 2004 7:43 am GMT by Ninja
If you're not sure that you're ahead, check after he does on the flop and turn.
Posted Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:42 pm GMT by Underbelly
Your gonna have to find out eventually what he is raising with. Until you know, you can never be sure if what you are doing is correct. I would wait until you have a really stong hand and call him.
Also, if he does this all the time, than I would believe his hands are not always that strong. If he never shows his card, he knows he's can call anything and will win as long as he raises big. That's the beauty of playing with players who play scared. I've done it before. When I learn others at the table are afraid to call my raise, I'll milk them dry!
It would only take one or two calls to cool him off. Even if you lose, he knows that you are not afraid to call and will think twice about doing it again.
Think about how many times you get a great starting hand on the average. Is he always playing way more hands than that, he probably the type who bet big with a high pair.
Best of Lick to you!
Posted Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:43 pm GMT by Underbelly
Best of luck . . . sorry about the typo
Posted Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:58 pm GMT by hawghunter5150
Raise! Raise em with good cards, when you catch your monsters and you know you have a calling station thank your stars you have someone to make money off of. At the same time, if you catch 87 you know you will have a calling station and you can check him until you hit.
Either way in low limit games that I play at card clubs and home games there are always a few people that play this way. I count them for what they are and make them pay dearly when I have good cards. Punish them for calling every chance you get.
Posted Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:17 pm GMT by Jauron
The two best ways to combat a slow player is to either check behind him on the river, once he see's he's not getting as big a pot as should of, he'll either be forced to bet himself of loose money.
OR
You start pushing back, go all in. Everytime he raises you and you have outs, force him to his stack, of course on the river, you have no outs, just the probability you have the best hand or don't. If you don't feel like you do check behind him, if you feel like you do, bet with confidence, and when he check raises you, move in.
If you are betting correctly however it will be tough for him to draw out on you, your bets on every flop should be to earn the pot, if they get called, so be it, then the turn is the same deal.
I typically (in cash games) bet 1/2 to the pot on every round, forcing my opponents to play for a large chunk of thier stack or give up the pot to me, since I continue doing this I do eventually get paid and even have people play back at me, if I have a hand I push back...all in. Of course you must have position and outs to do this, you can't just push back for the sake of pushing back. Pushing back tells your opponets you can't be pushed out of a pot, and it will bet expensive to try to do so.
GL....
Posted Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:01 am GMT by nicthestick
sit on dudes left. that way, he can check his good hands for you, and you can complete your draws for free.
Posted Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:12 pm GMT by pokerislife
ive played against these types of players many times before. The trick to beating them is to mix up your play against them a bit. They found a way to beat your bluffing-agressive style, now you need to adapt to beat theirs.
Heres a few tips:
about 75% of the time that u flop just nothing at all check it down the whole way. the other 25% of the time try betting the flop and seeing if he goes away, your bets will be stronger after all those checking and he will be a bit scared. with this checking strategy pick up a read as to what you think he could have, eventually he will start betting or all his hands will get wasted. Now the trick part comes in, he will try checking something like mid pair on flop, you hit a pair thats the new 2nd highest pair and you can tell it, you are going to want to value bet this on the river and he will call because it has been mostly checked down.
when you have a big hand treat it in your mind as if you currently have 27o and the guy keeps calling you and u hit nothing at all on the flop. you want a fold badly. bet as if this was the case and you will find him checkraising you and calling you when you have real strong hands.
throw in a few crazy plays every now and then and possibly show your cards, this will agrivate him and get him off his game.
Posted Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:49 pm GMT by gol4pro
Good points.
This guy sounds like your typical marginally-profitable poker player. A rock until the river, until he makes a huge raise. Easy to deal with.
You just have to learn how to exploit his tendencies. Bet out your good hands 1/2-2/3 the size of the pot (more if you think he'll call), and then weak lead the river, using his own natural tendency to make a huge raise to your advantage.
The fact that he's a calling station on the flop and turn makes him even easier to deal with. Howard Lederer says with position and checked to, you should randomly bluff 1/9th to 1/10th of the time. This ends up being a profitable play because of the EV of the pots you will win + the EV of extra action you will get if your opponent makes you show your QJs with the board 94422.
This guy sounds like the type of player who is going to win a lot of marginal pots, but that one time you have a hand..... he's gonna fall right for the bait.
Don't slowplay him. Value bet. Then make a bluffy looking bet/raise on the river, or weak lead into him so he'll come over the top of you.
Posted Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:23 pm GMT by Ensano
we had a guy like this in our home game.. now i know there are going to be some differences between your guy and this guy but they sound pretty much the same.. now the guy i faced would slow play his top pairs and up.. it would scare alot of people and he would get to run out hist draws very cheaply.. i found the way to beat this guy is to take the fight to him.. put him to a desicion.. i always bet teh amount that's in the pot.. (now i don't play high stakes or anything so a 10$ if fine for me).. you make a bet teh size of the pot and now this guy is going to have to figure out what his hand is worth to him.. if he follows.. then you can put in on a hand and play accordingly.. for example.. i bet.. he raised... so i knew he had at least two pair.. so i raised him all in with my straight flush draw.. i knew he had a better hand than me.. but i had out.. and besides.. i wanted him to fold.. but you know what.. i broke him.. and he never check raises me anymore... also.. it's good to have a tight table image to this guy...
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