Poker Pot Committed
Pot Committed Pocket Aces Poker Card Guard Introducing our lighter and low-price poker card guards. They are around 1.5 oz and 1.5 inch across. It comes with a FREE velvet pouch to protect its charm! Home › Pot Committed Pocket Aces Poker Card Guard. Buy 3 Get 1 Free - For every 4 items in cart, lowest priced item is FREE! - View All Eligible Items.
In this first part of series of theoretical articles “Poker Notepad” we are going to talk on one very significant topic for those who play live: being pot-committed. This is especially important for those playing cash games as they have absolutely no clue about it.
Let’s get through the “terms used” as all the nerdy articles seem to start like this, aren’t they?
It is very common to hear or see the following logic in cash game: the player invest more than a half of his stack into the pot and calls on the turn and river just because he is “pot committed”, or “too much involved”. And the main focus is the invested money, not pot odds.
Weird.
You know what? In cash game player can’t be pot committed at all. How do you like that? Nonsense, you say. But let yourself think about it. What is commit poker? After you’ve been busted in tournament you can say goodbye and leave and you can always rebuy at the cash table. You don’t have to invest the reminder of the stack just because “there is not enough left” or “a lot was invested”. Invested sum is of no importance.
In fact, playing pot committed poker means that you have positive expectation of calling the bet of the opponent considering his range in the hand and the pot odds. See, no mentioning of stack size.
Now let’s practice a little bit.
Example:
Villain has 100 bb, so do we. NL Holdem.
Villain raises to 5 bb, we call with 6-6.
Flop (10 bb): A-K-6 rainbow.
Villain bets 10 bb. We call.
Turn (30 bb): Ax.
Villain bets 30 bb. We call.
Turn (90 bb): 3x.
Villain bets all-in 55 bb. We?
Poker Pot Committed
Your guts tell you to call – it is a boat after all, wow, with pot odd of 2.63 to 1. From the other hand, we haven’t taken to analysis Villain’s range…
Let’s say Villain will bet with KK+, AQ+ in this aggressive manner. Than we beat 8 hands (all AQ combinations), and 10 hands beat us (1 x AA, 3 x KK, 6 x AK). Considering pot odds, call still makes sense: 200bb * (8 / 18) – 55bb = +33.8bb (EV).
Now let’s imagine that we somehow saw one of the hands our opponent has and it’s a king. We must fold immediately than! We don’t beat anything, and get beaten by 3x KK and 6 x AK – 9 hands. Regardless of stack and pot sizes, money invested, moon position to the sun and other factors we are making call which is –EV.
But I have KK!
Let’s continue our lesson. New table, new hand. Effective stack size is 100 bb. We have a bunch of callers – they call with anything and raise very tight, only 3-betting QQ+ and AK. They 5-bet only with rockets.
Poker Pot Committed
We open raise with kings, get 4 calls, SB makes a 3-bet (20bb), we re-raise making it 65 bb and get 5-bet all-in in our face. We need to call just 35 bb…
And the call is mathematically justified. There is 185 bb in the pot, we need to call just 25 bb, our equity is 18.054%, total pot is 200bb. We’re to get 39.71bb which equals +4.71bb on the distance. So it’s OK.
But! If there were not 4, but 2 pre-flop calls, our pot would be smaller. We would have to call not 25 but 50 bb. We are still pot committed, must get in and so on, aren’t we?
Despite equity being identical, call will be –EV (-12.09bb) on the distance.
So one more time. Pot commitment is based in two factors:
- How are we doing against villain’s range
- How much do we need to put in.
That’s it.
So next time anyone talks about pot committed poker, slap him hard while explaining what he gets wrong.
Pot commitment refers to the pot odds for your present stack size compared to your odds of winning the hand. It's a fairly basic concept in poker that can help you decide how - and if - you should play your hand.
Poker Pot Committed Definition
Ah, pot commitment. The closet maniac's excuse to get wild and reckless. Pot commitment, which refers to the pot odds for your present stack size compared to your odds of winning the hand, is a fairly basic concept in poker, but unfortunately, it's also one that is often used to justify bone-headed behaviour.
Assessing your actual pot commitment means rather than measuring the pot size in relation to the size of an opponent's wager, you are going to measure it against the remainder of your stack. As such, you are deemed 'pot committed' when your odds of winning the hand are greater than the pot odds for the rest of your stack.
Pot Commitment: An Example
Seem a little too abstract? Let's break it down with an easy example.
You and your opponent both begin with $500 stacks. By the turn, you have accumulated an $800 pot split evenly between you (so you both put in $400), leaving you each with $100 stacks.
Let's say you have a top pair. In this case, you are basically pot committed and it is not in your overall best interest to fold on the turn or river. This is because your pot odds relative to your remaining stack are 9:1. (900/100 - you need to account for your own stack to get the total pot size.)
With 9:1 pot odds, it is almost certain that you have a better chance of winning the hand, even if you are up against an aggressive opponent. Yes, it's true you may not win this particular hand, but in the overall scheme of things, you stand to win more often than you stand to lose. To justify the fold, you would need to be sure that your chances of winning the hand were less than 10% (the percentage equivalent of 9:1). You can learn more about pot odds and ratio to percentage conversion here.
The lesson? You should never shy away from acting if you are pot committed. You don't have to make crazy raises, but at least call. Your pot odds increase when you have more of your stack you have committed in the pot and as a result, the greater your pot commitment.
When Good Commitment Goes Bad: The Ugly Side of Pot Commitment
Just because you have put most of your stack in the pot DOES NOT mean you are pot committed. By definition, pot commitment involves accounting for your odds of actually winning as well. Tossing your last chip in the pot when you have zero chance of winning is not strategic; it's just stupid. If you don’t have a good enough hand, fold.