The Free Showdown Play
Posted by pmpoker on March 5, 2007
Ed Miller writes about the “Free Showdown Play at his website. Although he is talking about (bah) hold em, I think that the play has merit in other forms of poker.
I think it has less merit in omaha variants. As Miller notes, this play works best agaiinst aggressive opponents, but in omaha and omaha/8, there are so many scare cards that can come on the river that an aggressive opponent has many opportunities for coming again as a bluff. It has more value against a player who typically goes for a check-raise on the river because he lets you check-behind a lot on the river when you are beat.
The free showdown play is more useful in stud. Typically, it works best when you have a hand such as one or two pair with call down value against a player who bets a lot with draws. You’re not going to make him fold his draw any earlier, so, you save yourself some money by waiting for his board to unfold. The key to this play is that you have to a board yourself that discourages him from three-betting you. In razz, for example, it makes no sense to use this play when he is capable of having you board-locked and can know for sure whether or not his hand is the best.
