DanTheCardMan
03-23-2004, 10:21 AM
Read a post not too long ago about how one should not fold just because the pot has gotten big and you have seemingly little chance of winning. That instead you should hang in there (not fish-calling station hanging in there) but if you have a piece of the board and the pot is huge and you're pretty certain you have close to the best hand or a good chance to improve to the best hand, that going forward is not necessarily a bad thing. I've taken down a few big pots since reading that, but where it's really helped is changing my thinking from "I've got a pretty good hand, the pot is $2 and someone's just bet $4 into it so I'll call" into "why am I gonna call that big a bet for such a small pot without the nuts? I'll wait it out." Conversely, it's also changed my philosophy from "there's a king on the board and 2 fishy players just went all-in. I've got them both covered but only have a pair of 8's; I can't bet" to "Hell yeah I'm hanging in there! Call!"
Of course a lot more goes into these decisions: type of players still in, type of table, what hands you believe are out there, etc. Last night I had a pair of Jacks on the button in a SNG. Two early limpers, one a fish one a solid player. I mini-raised and they called. Flop came all rags (T62r). EP bet his remaining stack 280, EP+1 went all-in. I was short-stacked, so that was partially why I called but also because the pot was huge and I could nearly triple up. I'd put one of them on overcards and the other on AT or KT. I was right on my reads, and would have taken the pot had a K not come on the river giving EP+1 KKTT. All those chips in the pot and I had the best of it - you can't ask for more than that.
Of course a lot more goes into these decisions: type of players still in, type of table, what hands you believe are out there, etc. Last night I had a pair of Jacks on the button in a SNG. Two early limpers, one a fish one a solid player. I mini-raised and they called. Flop came all rags (T62r). EP bet his remaining stack 280, EP+1 went all-in. I was short-stacked, so that was partially why I called but also because the pot was huge and I could nearly triple up. I'd put one of them on overcards and the other on AT or KT. I was right on my reads, and would have taken the pot had a K not come on the river giving EP+1 KKTT. All those chips in the pot and I had the best of it - you can't ask for more than that.