Times to Avoid Slow Playing Sets

The odds of flopping a set when you hold a pocket pair are around 1 in 8 or around 12%. Flopping a set is a powerful hand but the hand is not always going to wind up the winning hand. Many players will always slow play a flopped set in the hopes of extracting more money out of their opponents. Today, I would like to share some instances where slow playing a set is not a good idea.

One of the main instances where a player should not slow play a set is when there is a potential flush draw on the board. If you slow play your set in this situation, you are many times going to give your opponent a free card to outdraw you. When two of one suit hits the flop, the odds that a flush will complete is around 38%. You want to make the opponent pay to draw to his flush. In the case of a flush draw, I am going to usually play pretty straight forward and bet enough to try and push that draw out.

Another instance I will be out on the flop is if the board is straightening. The odds of hitting an open ended straight are around 34%. Not every straight will be open ended. There is no reason that you should be giving your opponent a free draw at their straight. Make them pay.

Tight players are another instance where you want to play your sets fast. If you have a tight player raise into you and you see a flop with a pair and hit, chances are that they are going to call your bet or even raise you if you bet into them. If you check into them, they may check behind you depending on the board. An example would be that you flopped a set of 8’s, they are holding Queens and a king is on the flop. They may check behind you thinking that you might have a king in your hand. Tight players many times will only bet if they think they have the best of it. Granted, there are times that your bet may cause them to fold. That is not always a bad thing. In the example just a moment ago, you might want to push out their queens so that they don’t hit their two outer on you.

Slow playing a set is not always the best move to make at the table. While a set is a strong hand, you have to defend against being outdrawn and you need to try and extract money out of the misers at the table.

Popularity: 1% [?]