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Poker is a game of decisions. Some decisions are very easy to
make, while others will keep
you awake all night if you
choose poorly. In my
experience, the larger the pot
size, the harder the decision
you’ll be faced with.
On the other hand, the smaller the pot is, the easier the
decision. Which is why,
especially in tournament play,
you want to keep the pot small
when you’re holding a
marginal hand. You don’t
want to be facing a decision
for all of your chips in a
situation where all you’ve
got is something like top pair
with a medium-strength kicker.
You want to avoid that
scenario as much as possible.
It’s better to keep the pot
small by checking and calling
rather than building a huge
pot, even if you do hold an
advantage in that hand.
Let me give you an example from a hand I played at a World Series
of Poker event last year. We
were still fairly early in the
tournament, and I was in the
cut-off (the seat before the
button) holding K-J. The
action folded around to me, I
put in a raise and was called
by the button. Both blinds
folded, and we were heads-up
going to the flop.
The flop came J-9-3 with two diamonds. Yes, I had top pair with a
strong kicker, but with
straight and flush draws on
the board I was in no mood to
go crazy with my hand. So I
checked, and the button bet
about two-thirds of the pot.
A check could also tempt my opponent to bluff in this spot,
especially if he put me on
something like A-K or A-Q.
With a bluff or a drawing hand
being the button’s most
likely holding, I made the
call.
The turn was a harmless 5, not a diamond, and very unlikely to
help out the button in any
way. Once again, I decided to
control the size of the pot
and keep it small by checking.
If I’d bet and the button
had a monster draw, there’s
a good chance he’d come over
the top of my bet to try and
push me off the pot. I liked
my hand there, just not enough
to go broke with it.
After I checked, the button put in another bet, which I called.
The river was a non-diamond 2,
meaning that neither the flush
draw or the straight draw got
there. Confident that I had
the best hand at this point, I
still decided to check the
river.
Why? Well, there was a small chance the button had made a set or
two pair somewhere along the
way, and it’s better to
check-call in that spot rather
than face a tough decision for
a lot of chips if he raises.
Also, if he did have nothing
but air, checking might induce
a bluff on the river.
As it turned out, the button checked behind me and I took down the pot
with my K-J. I didn’t win a
big pot with that hand, but I
also didn’t lose a huge pot.
The decisions I faced on each
street were made much easier
by the fact that I kept the
pot small. |
