When am I pot committed?

[ChuckyB]

Been reading a lot of books and I understand what it means to be "pot committed". But I'm wondering if there's a formula, or do you have any guidelines for when you are "pot committed".

[Wacken]

pot commitment is more used as an explanation for a common newbie mistake.

After you have put an amount of money in the pot, but your hand is most likely beaten, some people will stay in the hand because they don't want to lose the money they already put into it and will keep calling to the river. If this is against the odds, it is a mistake.

You are never pot committed because of money you put in there previously. When you stand for the choise to fold or call/raise, do not think about the money you have already spent on this pot. Only think about the odds you are gonna win and see if you should call.
The money is there in the pot, and it does not matter where it comes from.

Pot commited can also be used in a way where it doesn't indicate a mistake. This is not pot commitment because of the money already put into the pot, but commitment because the pot is so enormous that even with very small odds of winning, the pot odds are still greater than the hand odds against you and you still have a positive EV. calling is the right thing to do.
You have for example a pair of queens and it is an overpair on the flop. heavy betting pre flop and after the flop, the turn and river come K and A. You are now very unlikely to win, but the pot is probably humongous and your pot odds might be so high they warrant a call.

[AaronBrown]

I agree with Wacken that you don't want to be "pot committed." If you get great pot odds, you'll call with a low chance of winning, but that's not commitment. If your girlfriend is gorgeous, rich, sexy and treats you great you'll stick with her as long as things stay that way; but that's not the same as being married.

The two common uses of the term are for understanding opponent's play and being short-stacked in tournaments.

If you think your opponent is pot committed, don't try to bluff him, and don't slow play him. Raise to the max with the best hand, fold with a loser. Sometimes you try to get opponents pot committed, making moderate bets until you think you have them hooked. Too big and you'll scare them off, too small and they won't get committed.

In a tournament, with a short stack, you may feel that you are already in a hand too deep to back out. If you fold, your chances of surviving are slim. In that case, you go all-in immediately. If you are pot committed anyway, it doesn't cost anything to make everyone put up or shut up.