A slow play is when you under bet the value of your hand. This is done to deceive your opponents. Often this play can go horribly wrong. Many times players lose their whole stack trying to be sneaky.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t times when this move can be the right play. The problems arise when you do this move at the wrong time. Let’s look at what can happen.
You’re at the beginning of a big tournament. So, the blinds are small and everyone has plenty of chips. You are dealt AA in early position. You decide to minimum raise, to hide the strength of your hand. Two players make the call. The flop comes A 10 6.
You continue with a small bet to disguise your big hand. One opponent calls you. The turn card is a 9. You make another small raise hoping to keep him around.
Then your opponents make a big raise. Convinced he has no idea what you have you happily call. The river is a harmless 2, so you make a bet hoping for a call. Your opponent immediately pushes all in.
You’re surprised, but thinking you’ve got this in the bag you call. You are shocked when he shows 7 8, making a straight. Did you just do that?
Maybe the first minimum bet was a little wrong. But the small bet on the flop was even worse. Now, when he hits his hand, there’s nothing you can do. You’ve dug your own grave.
Were you a victim of bad luck? Or was it bad play? I think you already know the answer.
When you made your first bet you invited a lot of players into the hand. When you bet small on the flop, you keep players around. When he goes all in at the end you call planning to see two pair, or a small set. You wouldn’t have to slow play to keep these hands calling.
By not betting much, you wouldn’t have made that many chips against some hands that would have been calling you. On the other hand, you get creamed when you make it cheap for someone to hit a long shot.
I think we all learn this lesson the hard way, by losing a few hands this way. I’m not saying never slow play, but most of the time it won’t make you more chips. In addition, sometimes you’ll get burned, bad.