For many players, flopping a big hand, like a set for instance, is instinctively a time to slowplay. The tendency is to check and conceal your big hand, in order trap your opponents. However, in most cases this is the wrong play, for several reasons. Let's look at a few examples.

Say you hold pocket 10s. A tight player in early position raises, and you decide to just call from the big blind. The flop comes A 10 3 rainbow. In this situation, I am most likely going to lead out with a pot sized bet and hope that my opponent hit his Ace. Leading out in this situation accomplishes a few things:

1) If he has a hand like AK or AQ, he is almost always going to raise and put more money in the pot.
2) There is a good chance your opponent will put you on a weaker Ace.
3) It is harder for your opponent to put you on a set, since many players would expect a check in that situation.
4) You prevent him from checking behind you with a hand like KQ where he’d get a free card to hit a gutshot straight.

If your opponent doesn’t have an Ace, you probably weren’t going to win a big pot anyway because the Ace would scare him if he held KK, QQ, or JJ.

Now let’s say you opted to go for a check-raise in this situation. A check-raise is a greater indication of strength than leading out with a bet. You risk alerting your opponent to the true strength of your hand. Instead of putting you on a weak Ace, your opponent may be more inclined to put you on a hand like A10 or a set. Even if he calls your check raise, it may have the result of slowing him down on the turn and river.

Here’s another example which illustrates this point:

A very tight player raises from UTG in a full cash game. The button calls, and you decide to call from the big blind with pocket 7s. You have a strong sense the UTG raiser holds a pocket pair of JJ or higher. The flop comes 7 5 5, and bingo, you have flopped a boat. Now because I feel strongly that UTG has an overpair, I am going to lead out here even with the full house. If I opted to check-raise in this situation, my opponent would have to be worried that I had a 5 in my hand, especially since I am calling from the big blind and could have a wider range of hands. If he has a hand like AK and folds, then there’s still a chance that the button has a pocket pair, and may stick around with that flop.

Here’s what happened: I led out with a pot-sized bet, the UTG player, who it turns out held AA, raised all in, and to my surprise the button called! I happily called as well, thinking the button had hit trips. Turns out the button had pocket 5s and had flopped quads! But that’s another story. The point is, it was correct to lead into the UTG raiser.

By leading out with your Monster, you disguise the strength of your hand and put yourself in position to win a bigger pot. When deciding whether or not to lead out when you flop a big hand, consider how likely the flop is to have hit your opponent. If you think there’s a good chance it hit him, or there’s a good chance he’s got an overpair, lead out with your hand and more often than not, you’ll be rewarded.

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