tracking pot sizes

Somewhere a couple days ago the question came up about tracking pot sizes. It occured to me then that I don't track the pot size at limit hold'em. I suspect I could train myself to track the pot size just fine. It's just that I can hardly imagine scenarios where knowing the exact amount of the pot, as opposed to a seasoned sense of how many chips are out there, would sway my betting decision. I think it would be valuable energy gone to waste for me to track the pot size at limit.


Then, over the last couple days I played no-limit, and it occured to me that in that game, I always 100% of the time know exactly and I mean exactly how much is in the pot if I'm in. Weird, eh? And I survey all chip stacks before each deal, in case I missed some swings. Knowing stack sizes is exactly the same in importance as knowing the pot size in my opinion. To me, no-limit is way more of a math game than limit, since stack sizes and bet sizes are pretty much the whole game, seeing thresholds coming, betting the least amount to steal the pot and not a chip more, figuring precise drawing odds and implied odds, on and on, all because it's a game of stack sizes and bet sizes.


I'm not trying to open the difference-between-limit-and-no-limit discussion again. I just thought it interesting that such a clear distinction between the two games exists in my wacky world; one game I track the pot, the other game I don't. Finally, a clear, consistent difference, that I didn't even know was there until yesterday.


Tommy

Tommy,


Without going into "Mark Glover" style research of your old posts, it is evident to me that you generally won't draw to long shots when the pot offers you (had you kept track of pot size or number of bets) the bare minimum to go for it (e.g., an inside straight with about ten bets in the pot and a call that closes the betting).


OTOH, I think your instinct would tell you that if you have a big overlay you would make the call. So perhaps giving up these marginal overlays on this and other long shots doesn't hurt you very much in limit and helps reduce your swings and protect your karma /images/smile.gif .


Great thoughts on no limit and pot limit but I'm not much of a judge at this point.


Regards,


Rick

...say it ain't so tommy....say it ain't so...