Poker Pot Size Management to Minimise Risk
Poker Pot Size Management to Minimise Risk
Managing pot size is a crucial skill to master if you want to maximise your poker profits. It's essential you keep this in mind because the vast majority of the confrontations that you are involved in should be small pots compared to your stack size. The point is to avoid getting involved in large pots, unless you are certain you are strongest in the hand. That way you keep your risks low, you'll lose fewer chips when you lose a pot, but when you do win a pot you'll scoop up a good number of chips.
Always consider what the result of any actions you take at the table will be. Whether you're checking, calling or raising, every action you take at the poker table has the potential to alter the size of the pot. Betting pre-flop, or on the flop when you have the best hand could cause you to lose more. While it's tempting to bet into a pot when you have a winning hand, hoping to win more, you need to consider not only your own hand strength, but your opponents and the board cards when deciding on what action to take.
Another consideration is the skill of your opponents. Are these players experienced enough to fold if you raise or reraise, or are they a calling station who will see your cards no matter what? There's nothing worse than raising with the best hand when you know you have your opponent beat, and having them call and outdraw you. You want to reduce the chance that this will happen, and not get involved in pots where this is likely to occur, especially in the early stages of a multi table tournament.
The size of a pot also makes a big difference to your ability to read your opponents. If your opponent wants to be in a hand then you can put them on a certain range of hole cards (depending on what type of player they are). Once the put is large enough to concern your opponent, then you have more opportunity to bluff, and win the pot with a weak hand.
This brings us to the biggest advantage of managing pot size, which is that you get to see all five cards on the board before you really resolve what to do in terms of your hand strength and your opponent's propensity to make an error. Prospective draws or paired boards reveal themselves to critical spots but could either turn into big hand for you or help you fold and save you some tournament chips.
Managing the pot size needs emotional discipline, effective profiling of your opponents, and an experienced understanding of post flop play. Get it right and you'll minimise your risk and maximise your winnings, but get it wrong and you'll end up being called in the wrong spot and bleeding chips. As ever with poker, you should study and practice the art of managing the size of the pot until it becomes second nature, as it's an effective weapon in your arsenal of poker plays.
Managing pot size is a crucial skill to master if you want to maximise your poker profits. It's essential you keep this in mind because the vast majority of the confrontations that you are involved in should be small pots compared to your stack size. The point is to avoid getting involved in large pots, unless you are certain you are strongest in the hand. That way you keep your risks low, you'll lose fewer chips when you lose a pot, but when you do win a pot you'll scoop up a good number of chips.
Always consider what the result of any actions you take at the table will be. Whether you're checking, calling or raising, every action you take at the poker table has the potential to alter the size of the pot. Betting pre-flop, or on the flop when you have the best hand could cause you to lose more. While it's tempting to bet into a pot when you have a winning hand, hoping to win more, you need to consider not only your own hand strength, but your opponents and the board cards when deciding on what action to take.
Another consideration is the skill of your opponents. Are these players experienced enough to fold if you raise or reraise, or are they a calling station who will see your cards no matter what? There's nothing worse than raising with the best hand when you know you have your opponent beat, and having them call and outdraw you. You want to reduce the chance that this will happen, and not get involved in pots where this is likely to occur, especially in the early stages of a multi table tournament.
The size of a pot also makes a big difference to your ability to read your opponents. If your opponent wants to be in a hand then you can put them on a certain range of hole cards (depending on what type of player they are). Once the put is large enough to concern your opponent, then you have more opportunity to bluff, and win the pot with a weak hand.
This brings us to the biggest advantage of managing pot size, which is that you get to see all five cards on the board before you really resolve what to do in terms of your hand strength and your opponent's propensity to make an error. Prospective draws or paired boards reveal themselves to critical spots but could either turn into big hand for you or help you fold and save you some tournament chips.
Managing the pot size needs emotional discipline, effective profiling of your opponents, and an experienced understanding of post flop play. Get it right and you'll minimise your risk and maximise your winnings, but get it wrong and you'll end up being called in the wrong spot and bleeding chips. As ever with poker, you should study and practice the art of managing the size of the pot until it becomes second nature, as it's an effective weapon in your arsenal of poker plays.
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