Waking Up A Slow Game

"The Slow Game" - a poem by AKFortyKevin.

Limp, fold, limp, limp, limp, fold, fold, limp, limp, check.
Flop 48Q.
Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check.
Turn 5.
Min bet, fold, fold, call, call, fold, fold, call.
River J.
Check, check, check, check.
"I have aces." "I have QJ." "I have 67, i was hoping you'd bet."
Next hand.


If you've ever played in a slow game, that little tale sounds familiar. No one raises, very few bets, lots of limping. All in all, it isn't a particularly profitable game for the aspiring pro, as everyone seems content to just let the cards fall off the deck and onto the table. The worst part is, it's incredibly, mind numbingly boring.

There are a couple ways to fix this though. Some of them go against many of the principles the pro should normally follow; in fact, on their own they usually involve a play with negative expectation, i.e. they lose money in a vacuum. Why try them? In the end, the money you gain by livening up the game will far outweigh a little short term loss. Without further ado...

Show The Bluff Pick your target. Say there's a loose weak player up front who limps in. He calls pretty much everything preflop, but folds if he misses his hand on the flop. Perfect. When it gets around to you, make a raise with a garbage hand. I mean REALLY garbage, like in the 72 offsuit realm. He'll probably call, then check to you on the flop. Why? Because he is passive and we already know that from prior hands. Make a standard continuation bet. If he missed, he'll fold.

(By the way, most hands dont connect with a random flop. This is the logic behind continuation betting and one of the reasons why aggression is so important in poker. If you can win all the hands where both you and your opponent miss the flop, you'll do very well in NL hold'em.)

Playing a really really bad hand is somewhat out of character for my game, but here's the big diversion. SHOW YOUR HAND. Lay that 72 offsuit out there for all to see. Let them know you're in there with any two cards, playing some poker. That'll send a buzz into the crowd, and it'll also give you a little more action when you go back to playing a solid game. Might piss off the one player, but hey, we picked him because he was bad at poker, so he's probably not going to come back to haunt us.

Straddle/Blind Raise Regrettably, in Atlantic City it is illegal to perform what is called a "straddle", i.e. willingly posting another blind at least double the regular blind, when you're first to act. But a blind raise works almost as well for stirring up the game. If it's 1/2, make it 5. Big spender! He didn't even look at his cards! Let everyone know how little the money really matters. The standard raise from that point will be to 15, 20, or more - a lot of action for a game where everyone was just limping only a single hand ago. Usually someone else will jump into the "crazy" gambling fun, and all will be well again. For 5 bucks you can't buy this kind of entertainment anywhere else.

The Sleeper Even better than the limp raise, because you do this one in position, from the button or right before it. Before the cards are out, throw a raise in. In AC that raise will stand if it comes around to you. Again you're advertising an insane lack of respect for money, and this rubs off on people - hey, it's a casino, we're here to gamble! Once your opponents start thinking that, the game will liven right up.

Buy A Round If you have the alcoholic tolerance of an ox, go ahead and buy a shot for every player at the table. They'll probably be grateful, and you'll take the alcoholic hit better than they do. There's a reason casinos serve free drinks, you know.

There are many variations on the theme, but the basic idea is to get your table thinking less about playing poker and more about "gambling", since you've got the edge as a pro in both odds and skill. Be careful, though - delve into this line too much and it'll be tough to tell a skilled pro from the drunken idiot who flings money at anyone willing to catch it.