Pot Committed?

Originally Posted by Grumbar

I personally don't like to consider myself pot committed ever. But sometimes I do. We were playing in our weekly bar tourney last Thursday and I had a healthy stack, about average, when we were down to about 15 players left. I picked up pocket sixes in late position. One extremely drunk player raised from early position. I figured him to be holding just about any two cards. It was folded around to me and I called the 3x's the BB raise. The small blind folded and the chip leader at the table in the big blind called. The flop came Q52, not a bad flop for 6's. The big blind checked, the drunk guy put out a bet about 1/4 of the pot size. I figured this to be a continuation bet and just called as did the big blind. The turn brought another queen. I now figured my 6's to be good. I had about 35,000 in chips left. It was checked to me and I bet out 30,000 figuring to take the pot right there. Both players had me well covered but that bet would have put a dent in either of their stacks. Both players called and I knew right then I was beat. The river brought a 4 and the big blind bet out 20,000 which was more then enough to put me all in. The drunk guy folded saying he had Q3 although he never showed his cards. It came to me and I knew I was beat but I said outloud, I'm already pot committed I have to call. The big blind turned over KQs and took a large pot and the rest of my chips.

I thought about that hand the rest of the night. The bets preflop and on the flop were each right around 10,000. The blinds were 1k and 2k so at the beginning of the hand I had plenty of room to manuever. The preflop bet was 6k. So there was 19k in the pot at the flop. The flop bet was 5k adding another 15k to make the pot 34k. My turn bet was basically a pot bet, but I should have checked it, that was my mistake. They were letting me see a free card and the only way my bet gets called is if I am behind in the hand. Now I've got 5k left and there is 124k in the pot on the river. I could have kept my 5k and tried to climb back into the game. But to win 129k after the big blind bet with 5k is incredible pot odds. I knew I was beat, but my poor play had committed me to this pot.

Another place I'll get myself pot committed frequently is late in a tournament when I'm relatively short stacked in relation to the blinds. Let's say I have 8500 in chips and the blinds are 1k/2k. Now I need to make a move here very soon or I'm out. I know it and everyone at the table knows it. So when I push all my chips in I'm liable to get called with just about any two cards. So what I'll do generally is put in a bet of 8k, 4x's the big blind, a pretty standard raise. This leaves me with only 500 chips and if anyone raises, I'm most obviously calling. I have definately pot committed myself. But I find that in these situations my bet seems less like a desperation move and more like a calculated bet and I'm LESS likely to get called. I don't have any actual data to back that up, but when I get called with a bet like that my opponents have real hands. When I get called when I move all in, I find that frequently my opponents have rags and are just taking the opportunity to try to knock someone out. Anyone who spends a second thinking about it knows that I've committed all my chips to this hand, but I don't have all my chips in the middle so it doesn't seem as desperate. This has allowed me to steal a blind or two when they become so important even when I'm short stacked. That will sometimes buy me the time I need to get a real hand that gives me a chance to double up with.

This also gives me a chance to get away from the hand if I feel I'm in real trouble. Of course if I dump the hand I'm in real bad shape. But it is better to have a single chip then no chips. For example let's say I'm two off the button and everyone checks to me. I've got KJo, not a bad hand in late position and a good blind stealing hand. I bet 8k leaving myself 500 in chips. Now let's say the next guy moves all in with well more then I have. And let's say the button moves all in over the top of him with even more chips. Let's say the small blind folds and the big blind who has all three of us covered calls the all ins. So I'm pot committed and only have 500 chips left. But these two guys to my left have shown a lot of strength. The chances of me winning this pot are very slim indeed. In a lot of instances I'll lay this down and hold onto my 500 chips hoping to double up a few times to get back into it. A lot of times I'll call because I've really got almost no time to catch cards with only 500 chips. Sometimes it's better to take a chance on the next two random cards then to take a chance on a decent hand that you know is most likely dominated and you probably don't even have two live cards.

So to me pot committed is a not just what the odds are, it also has to do with what the situation is. You never know what your next two cards are going to be, maybe your next hand is pocket aces if you stick around. If you have no chips left, you'll never know.