Quote Originally Posted by The Professor
Do you ever run into situations where you have a monster, but everytime you raise it everyone folds (as they probably should)? Wouldn't the ocassional slow-play be warranted in these situations TO extract some value? Naturally, if the board turns scary you must be careful not to donk it up...
Of course slowplay of AA makes sense sometimes on very weak/passive tables or shorthanded vs chickens who fold to any big raise. But generally I think betting them hard (with caution on turn and river when you feel you're beat) extracts much more value. In your hand #2 on a standard table, I would raise more pre-flop, probably raise the flop a bit more, bet more on the turn (the board isn't scary!) and on the river bet something like 1/2 pot and say nh if one of the donks shows a 7. You play 25NL and especially on that level I wouldnt slowplay Aces because the donks there call with all kinds of crap anyway, so you extract much more if you bet hard On 50 or 100NL you gotta be much more careful about strong reraises on turn or river when betting Aces hard - that usually means a flopped set or even stronger...The best way to decide which line to use between slowplay and aggression is if you have a good read on a player and KNOW what he will probably fold, call, raise etc.