Yes, that is generally the best option for most if not all targets, but ABSOLUTELY the first target. If your mount generally knows where it is (ie you've parked it or it knows that you're at CWD when it starts up) then slewing first and then centering is generally best.
Plate solving at the pole can often make your mount "lose its mind". It's very difficult to determine where the mount is located at that position. It's the same issue as Dobson's Hole with Alt/Az mounts (so if you own an Alt/Az never sync at zenith 
) You can give yourself an idea of what the problem is by pointing at the pole and then just rotating in RA. If you have little to no cone error you'll see that the center of the image remains unchanged and you're just rotating around the center. So the coordinates are the exact same even though your RA could be 180 degrees away from where it started.
Hope that helps,
Jared