Slow playing is risky business… A lot of poker players at FullTilt Poker that *think* they’re good at poker will slow play way too often.

Basically, here’s a list of hands that a person might slow-play:

• They’ve flopped their set.
• They’ve nailed their flush.
• They’ve nailed their straight.
• They’ve flopped two pair.
• They’ve booked up.

When slow playing, you must note what is actually on the board! I’ve seen far too many players bust their hand by slow playing their set, or their two pair, when there’s a flush draw on the board. Observe. Check to see if there are hands that have a reasonable chance of beating you:

• Is there a flush draw out there?
• A straight draw?
• If you’ve flopped a flush holding two low cards, you’ve got to keep in mind that other people are still drawing to a higher flush.

You must not overvalue your hand; it’s great you’ve flopped your set with your pocket pair, but you cannot slow play it if there’s a potential flush out there. It’s just not safe betting. You’re letting people draw cheaply – is your hand strong enough?

A great time to slow-play:

• You’ve flopped the nuts (or a very strong hand.. i.e. 7d, 7s or Kd, Kh)
• There are minimal draws on the board. (3d, 7h, Ks)
• The pot is small.
• You want your opponents to catch up a bit. You’re so far ahead that it is very unlikely they will catch up completely.

Hopefully another player at Full Tilt Poker has caught a pair of kings and will call you down, but you want to check this one out and let others improve their hands so that they bet and they think they’re ahead.

A bad time to slow-play:

• You’ve flopped your set. (Hole cards: 2s, 2d)
• The flop holds 2 suited cards, and they’re also connected. (7d, 8d, 2h)
• The pot is large, and there are still 4 other players in it.

What will happen in the latter example is that people have great odds to call with their drawing hands, so you must be careful even when betting aggressively. Just don’t slow play!

Muppet Rule #1: Don’t overvalue your hand!

There are two different types of poker tells: acting tells, and the unconscious tells. How do you know if a tell is unconscious or a deliberate act? If a player thinks that you’re watching them, and then exhibits a tell that we’ve gone over (or you’ve read elsewhere) in an obvious manner, they’re probably acting. This article doesn’t cover acts. (Another will, mind you.)

An unconscious poker tell is a tell that a player will expose when they think you’re not looking… they won’t even know they’re doing it.

Impatience

Tapping the poker table

There are two people left in a pot, yourself and Player X. You’re first to act, you check and then Player X bets. He then starts tapping the table. Most players confuse this poker tell if they notice it: they think, he’s being impatient because he’s bluffing and just wants to claim this pot. Wrong. He doesn’t even notice that he’s tapping the table, and, in fact, he’s got a very strong hand. In these instances, even with a strong hand, you should only call. (Or fold)

Shuffling hole cards

If you notice this after a player has bet, it’s essentially the exact same poker tell as above. Pass, or only call – don’t raise.

Guarding hole cards.

A lot of players do this. I did it myself before becoming aware that this actually gave away information. Take a look around the table on www.PokerStars.com at various stages of hands to see who exhibits this tell – you’ll probably spot it on 50% of all poker players. It’s apparently an intrinsic part of human nature to cover or ‘protect’ things that are of value to us… including cards.

Covering of mouth.

This is more commonly seen in amateur players. As a ploy to hide their face, they’ll raise their hand to their mouth – subconsciously believing that this will aid in them pulling off their bluff. If you see a player do this, don’t hesitate to call with bottom or a medium pair. Be careful when utilizing this tell; a lot of players may naturally raise their hands to their mouth regularly & obviously they’re not going to be bluffing each time they do this. Take note of which players do this frequently, as this tell cannot be applied to them.

Quiet = Bluff.

A player’s usually talking, laughing and just being generally obnoxious… Now, they’re actively betting into a poker pot and have suddenly fallen silent. What does this usually tell you? Well, the player’s trying not to instigate a call by angering anybody else. Basically, they’re limiting their moves and avoiding drawing attention to themselves while bluffing. A good way to help recognize this tell FullTilt.com is by asking the player a simple question. Even just “how was Melbourne’s football game on the weekend, hey?” – if the person would usually flow with an answer, and suddenly fumbles for words and can’t find a sentence to put together, they’re probably bluffing.

Talkative = Strong.

On the other hand, a poker player who casually talks about anything that interests them during a poker hand is probably not bluffing. To the contrary, it is more than likely that they’ll have a strong hand.

As a general rule for recognizing bluffs, you’ll need to analyze what sort of person the poker player is. When a player suddenly acts somewhat out of character, it’s highly likely that they’re bluffing or are weak. Remember that these tells aren’t gospel and will vary from player to player, and they’ll also be a lot more subtle with some players.

Ever been in a friendly free game of poker with a few friends and thought “well stuff it, its only a freepoker game what do I have to lose by calling this raise with 2 5 off suit?”

I’ll tell you exactly what you have to lose, and more importantly what you don’t get the chance to gain.

First and foremost, if you are serious about improving the way you play poker online and refining your poker skills, play every game, ever set of cards, as you would if there were real stakes on the line. Although there may not be an immediate reward for playing your hand well, like a nice juicy cash pot; in the bigger picture the reward can be much greater, it will be experience, and that isn’t something you can win or buy!

What better way to improve your game than when there is no money on the line? For this reason free games can be invaluable. Free games of poker are a great way to fine tune your skills and try to make plays you wouldn’t other wise have the guts to make.

Knowledge is another great asset that you stand to gain from playing in free games. You can work on learning to read your opponents at no cost to your hip pocket.

When I first started playing at PokerStars.de I focused only on what cards I had in my hand and the cards on the board. After a while I realized that poker was much, much more than just what cards I had, its also what my opponent is holding (which can be even more important than the cards that you hold in your own hand). So I figured I had to learn how to read players and put them on a hand.

Now how did I go about learning these skills that I needed? Free tournaments of course! I would go down to one or two free poker tournaments per week and do something that may seem a bit strange at first but ended up teaching me a lot. I would play my hands as I usually would, but every fourth or fifth I would play my hand without looking at my cards! I would be playing the other players in the pot, if I thought someone was bluffing I would call them regardless of my two faceless cards, if I put them on a genuine hand I would fold. This cost me no real money to do, and it allowed me to see if my read was correct when the other player was forced to open his hand. By doing this I gained valuable skills that I will have with me for the rest of my life.

Secondly have you heard the saying “you play as you train”? well think of free games as your training! if you fool around calling on long odds, entering pots with hands you usually wouldn’t, and in general just playing poor poker you will teach yourself bad habits and these could be the difference of coming out a winner or a looser when it counts!

Poker is a game that can never be mastered, and there is always something to learn no matter how many years you have been playing at PokerStar.de!

So don’t dismiss a free game as just a waste of time, and just fool around. Instead see them as a great opportunity to improve your game, fine tune your skills and perhaps make a great play or two that you other wise wouldn’t have the courage to make.