Even though one of the main goals in poker is to throw your opponent off balance and force them to 🏧 make mistakes, certain limits should never be crossed.
These limits are a part of what’s known as “poker etiquette” – a 🏧 set of unwritten poker rules that the majority of players knows and follows.
The “slow roll” belongs to this group and 🏧 is considered a big no-no for most players, so let’s dig deeper into what it means and why it’s a 🏧 problem.
What Is Slow Rolling In Poker?
A slow roll is when you have an extremely strong hand but take a long 🏧 time to make an easy call when closing the action on the river. Slow rolling is also when you know 🏧 you have the best hand but purposely take a long time to reveal your hand at showdown.
For example, let’s say 🏧 you have KhJh, and there are three hearts by the river. You bet, and your opponent calls. Since they didn’t 🏧 raise, you can be sure you have the best hand even though it’s not the absolute nuts.
Instead of turning your 🏧 hand immediately, you hesitate and wait for them to show their holdings, giving them the impression they might have the 🏧 winner.
Although there isn’t a single clear definition of a slow roll in poker, almost everyone who’s played for more than 🏧 a few weeks is aware of when they do it – and very rarely does it happen by accident.
Here is 🏧 a perfect example of slow rolling – check out the reactions from the other players and commentators:
Why Is Slow Rolling 🏧 Bad?
The only thing you gain from slow rolling is upsetting and irritating your opponents.
If you have the winner, you know 🏧 you have the winner, so taunting them by making them think they’re going to win the hand is just poor 🏧 sportsmanship and bad manners.
It’s a matter of common courtesy and respect for your opponents.
As well as this, taking forever to 🏧 show down your hand slows the whole game down, which means everyone at the table suffers. Things tend to move 🏧 slowly as it is at the live tables.
Slow rolling in poker fails to achieve anything positive.
Is Slow Rolling Against The 🏧 Official Rules?
Players who like to slow roll others in poker will often argue that there’s nothing to prevent it in 🏧 the official rules.
In theory, this is true, as there’s no defined number of seconds or minutes within which you have 🏧 to showdown your hand when it’s your turn to act.
So, you’re not likely to get any official penalties like a 🏧 couple of rounds away from the table.
However, if you’re playing in a new setting, you might run into a poker 🏧 room manager who doesn’t appreciate such actions. If you keep doing it even after being warned, they might still give 🏧 you a penalty.
Every poker room and manager out there can run their games however they see fit.
If they find you’re 🏧 disrupting the games, you could still find yourself sitting on the rail for a little while to consider your actions 🏧 or even completely out of the game if you bother others too much.
How To Avoid Accidental Slow Rolls
Not everything in 🏧 poker is clear-cut, and we all get confused sometimes.
However, you should try to avoid even an accidental slow roll by 🏧 remembering to:
Muck your hand or turn your cards over when it’s your turn.
Turn your hand first if you know you 🏧 have the nuts – unless there is a specific reason not to do it.
Be polite and turn your hand over 🏧 when the player says “you’ve got it” or something along those lines.
Live poker is as much about having people skills 🏧 as it is about math and ranges.
Being nice and polite will likely pay off in the long run – in 🏧 more ways than you can imagine if you’re just starting.
The bottom line is, you don’t want to be that guy 🏧 who annoys everyone else at the table and no one wants to play with.
Being considered a jerk won’t help your 🏧 win rate or win you any friends, guaranteed.
