Some reasons for practicing it.

Some players will advise you never to slowplay in Texas Hold'em because you may suffer a lot in case some other player beats your hand. I personally prefer to defend my hands with bets and raises, but sometimes I am not playing my hands in the most optimized way. Every player needs to vary his play from time to time so he can be less predictable. Although you are taking the risk to loose - that can't be defined as a complete loss as you get something in exchange. In this article we will discuss some reasons why should you practice slowplay, besides being just unpredictable.

1) Because you won't need to fold your powerful hand on a big re-raise done by another player on a drawl.
I know that many players (almost all) who are tend raise with top pair if there is a drawl on the board. They think they don't want to give a card for free in case an opponent of theirs is on a drawl. But a top pair is not a hand that can be automatically played for the whole stack if the game goes deep. Here I am giving you an example:

- You have A♦K♦. You raise and you got paid the two blinds only. The flop is A♠ J♥8 ♥. The first player bets the pot – what should you do? I wouldn't be so sure to play for my whole stack in this situation. I can not only loose from a hand consisted two pairs or a set, but also I would be afraid from A♥Q♥ or T♥ 9♥ which are good enough for an all-in raise. In other words – I hate raising on the flop with the only intention to fold in case of a big re-raise. But I hate even more to pay and my opponent to get me in an all-in or to make a big re-raise while I'm holding one pair only. I almost 50/50 against those drawls and I have almost no chances against two top pairs or a set. Of course if there is not a drawl on the board I would know that I am most probably going to lose if my opponent re-raises, but I lose if in case of making my opponent to get familiar with the fact that I have a strong hand if he has a medium strong one like in the example in the next paragraph.

2) You want to earn money with your strong hands.
Let's assume that instead raising I limp with A♦K♦. The blinds pay and the flop comes A♠J♥8♥, the first player bets, the second one folds and it is my turn. If I just pay here I can win absolutely everything and there is a high chance my opponent to bet again on the turn and I to pay again. If a river card is safe and he checks, I can bet. Just pay attention to my potential win against top pair compared to the case where I raise on the flop and he folds everything else except the hands he needs in order to beat me.

3) You may decide to present any hand you want if your opponent shows weakness.
I agree that is a very scary board, but it can be a way more scary for my opponent who is out of a position. If you know his manner of playing and you can predict his action well enough, he gets pretty scared any time you pay. Now he has to play poker, while if you had raised with AK, he would very hardly make a mistake. He would fold in case he got beaten or to raise if he was going forward.

4) The super aggressive players love playing against a player who pays when having a medium-strong hand, but raises when having a very strong one only. That way they can continue betting against a caller on the board with a drawl, having in mind that their opponent holds a strong hand. Paying on the flop and folding on the turn against such an opponent can only lead to making his bankroll thicker because he interprets paying on such a board as a weakness. With a medium-strong hand it is necessary for you only to pay from time to time so you can show your opponent that the payment can be made while having a wide range of hands, but not only with a medium-strong ones. But of course you have the option to pay the flop, the turn and the river with a medium-strong hand and to hope your opponent to bluff but that can be considered pretty risky.

There are many cases in which it is not a good idea for you to slowplay. The biggest disadvantage of the slowplay is that you give a chance to your opponent to hit and win you in a situation in which he would otherwise fold or raise. One of the most dangerous situations is if you have a top pair or an overpair with medium cards and an overcard which can make you lose appears. Even if you player have raised before the flop and his most probable hand is AK, he may also have AQ, AJ or even KQ, KJ from one and the same color if he is an aggressive player. And because of that I very rarely check overpairs like JJ, TT, 99 or a top pair with cards of such a rank and an ace kicker. If I do that, that would be only against a pre-flop raiser with the intention to fold on a strong bet.

Another situation in which I don't like approaching with slowplaying is when I am out of a position. The paying in a position is very different than checking and just paying because your opponent has an option to take a free card if he checks on the turn. If I give that option to my opponent that can be only in a situation in which I am not afraid he can hit and beat me. An example for such a case is if I had paid with AK before the flop and a top pair without drawls hits on the board, and of course If I am playing against an opponent who would tend to bet again if I give him a chance again. Of course you can check and pay the flop and top pay again on the turn, but when having a strong hand I would prefer to bet on the flop and later to decide what to do on the turn if I get paid.