English edit

Alternative forms edit

Verb edit

slow roll (third-person singular simple present slow rolls, present participle slow rolling, simple past and past participle slow rolled)

  1. (poker slang) To make a long pause before calling an all-in bet with a strong, usually very strong, hand.
  2. (poker slang) To make a long pause before revealing one's winning hand.
  3. (transitive, by extension) To obstruct by delaying; to slow-walk.
    • 2018 March 21, Elaina Plott, “Trump Vents His Anger Over Border-Wall Funding”, in The Atlantic[1]:
      The president is upset with congressional leaders for slow-rolling his core campaign promise, and for failing to defund sanctuary cities in their spending bill.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:slow roll.

Noun edit

slow roll (plural slow rolls)

  1. (poker slang) An instance of slow rolling
    • 2007, Irish Mike, “A strange slow roll”, in rec.gambling.poker (Usenet):
      Saw a very strange slow roll last night in a $20/$40 game. A guy raises with KK and another player calls, all-in, with 99. Flop and turn are rainbow rags. Then, for reasons known only to him and God, the dealer decides to get cute with the river card. He peeks at the corner, pauses dramatically, looks at both players, then turns up a 9 on the river. I've seen a lot of players slow roll but it's unusual to see a dealer do it. A lively discussion followed.
  2. (aviation) A maneuver in which the aircraft makes a complete rotation around its roll axis while maintaining a straight and level flight path.

Usage notes edit

  • slow rolling is considered bad etiquette by many players, so the term is often used pejoratively