How to Play A Set

Sets are the bread and butter of poker players. I can’t think of much else that feels better than flopping a set against someone’s big pair and ruining that person’s day.

Slow Playing Mistakes

The biggest mistake people make with sets is slow playing them when it’s not appropriate to do so. Even though sets make the most money for us, they are far from invincible. Straights, flushes and the occasional higher set are always out there waiting to snatch that pot right up out of your hands.

It’s OK to slow play sets in certain situations, just not all the time. First of all, you want to protect that nice little set that’s treated you so well over the years. By slow playing it needlessly, you’re just throwing that little guy out to the wolves to fend for himself. It’s just dangerous! There are straights and flushes waiting around every corner to pop out and devour your set.

On top of that, there’s no point in slow playing a set if you’re up against someone with a draw. If you wait until the river to bet, the person you’re up against has either hit the draw or missed it. That sounds obvious but think about it: what good is a bet going to do on the river if your opponent has already either hit his draw or missed it? You’re either getting called by a better hand or causing the opponent to fold.

If you’re up against someone with a weaker hand than you, it’s a great time to bet your set. You might as well start building a pot early in the hand and getting your opponent attached to the pot instead of waiting until the river and hoping he calls one little bet.

With sets, it’s better to risk causing your opponents to fold than it is to needlessly slow play them.

When to Slow Play

Now sometimes there are good places to slow plays sets, like if you’re heads up against a single opponent who raised preflop. In this situation, it’s OK to slow play a set occasionally. Don’t overdo it though because you don’t want to become predictable and you still need to protect your hand.

Even then, I wouldn’t usually slow play the set for more than one street unless the opponent was extremely timid. The timid opponent probably won’t give you much action anyways, so you just have to hope they have enough of a hand to give you at least a little action.

Playing a Set Fast

Other times, it’s a good idea to play a set aggressively against a single opponent because he might just have something like an over pair and is ready to get it in. It’s a lot easier to get someone with an over pair all-in on the flop than it is to slow play and get that same person all in on the turn or river. After all those cards come out, players tend to get a little nervous and they may suspect you of slow playing. Additionally, they will be less likely to put you on a strong hand if you play it aggressively from the get-go.

One of the worst times to slow play a set is when you’re in a pot against multiple opponents. If there are two or more people in the pot with you, you really need to protect your hand. Plus, the more people there are, the better the chances one of them has a hand strong enough to want to play a big pot with you. If you sit around and wait to bet, people are going to either hit their draws or not put any more money in the pot with busted draws.

So in general, it’s better to play sets fast than it is to play them slow. You want to build the pot and protect your hand at the same time. Sometimes it’s OK to slow play a set against a single opponent, but never do it against multiple opponents.