Keeping the pot small. Wha-?

[thenextguy]

I've seen this concept mentioned often, and I think I understand the theory behind it, but I'm not sure. Occasionally I'll read someone say that they think they're ahead but they'll check the turn to keep the pot small. Or someone will say they didn't want to raise because they didn't want to play a big pot with this certain hand. Is this to prevent having to make a tough decision later in the hand, or to prevent the possibility of making a big mistake later?

Anyway, it's an interesting topic (and a bit confusing)and I'd love to hear some of the expert's takes on this concept. (i.e. When? Why? How?)

[ObnxNole]

I think you are looking at the game the wrong way. Obviously, your goal is to WIN the pot. If that means checking the turn to get a free card or to induce your opponenent to bluff then do it. There is no right or wrong way to play any hand which is what makes poker so much fun. If you don't feel comfortable playing a big hand with certain cards then saddle up and throw your cards in the muck. But to keep a pot small simply for the sake of keeping it that way is silly. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[queenhigh]

Think about the hands you "win smalls pots and lose big ones" with, e.g. big offsuit face cards. For example, lets say you raise a limper in middle position w/ AK and the flop comes A high. when you bet the ace, your hand is very well defined. thus, the bigger the pot, the less likely you are ahead. in this case, after betting the flop, given certain board textures, you might check behind the turn because if you bet and are called you're almost certainly beat.

in short, youre not keeping the pot small just for the sake of keeping it small, you're just avoiding a big pot with a hand that doesn't usually win big pots.

[Rococo]

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that you keep a pot small for the sake of keeping it small. Managing the size of the pot can be critical in NL however. Consider the situation where you hold A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and the flop is A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]:6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Turn is the 2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. If the pot is decent-sized and your opponent checks the turn to you, there is quite a case to be made for checking behind rather than firing in a huge bet to blast your opponent off a draw. The cost of being wrong is too high because you can't call a raise.

This is part of what makes NL so different from limit.

[SmileyEH]

You have AK, I have a low pocket pair. Want to play a 400BB pot with me every 8 hands?

Didn't think so.

-SmileyEH

[NPoling]

One thing thats also important about pot management is not pricing your opponent in when you're bluffing or defending a made hand against a strong draw. A lot of times a player will know he should fold to your agression, but will be forced to call because you're laying him too good odds on a medium to large sized pot.

[coltrane]

[ QUOTE ]
Consider the situation where you hold A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and the flop is A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]:6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Turn is the 2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. If the pot is decent-sized and your opponent checks the turn to you, there is quite a case to be made for checking behind

[/ QUOTE ]

not to be argumentative, but I think this is a bad example....change the hand to A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and it's an easy check.....but with no redraw I'd bet this in position all day (again, it does depend on what I know about my opponent) because I'm either already killed (in which case being raised doesn't make me feel bad at all) or he could have something like 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in which case checking is an awful play by me.....this is a different concept though than "keeping the pot small"....

a better example (IMO) would be if I were out of position and my AQo flop bet just got smooth-called on a Q72 (rainbow) flop.....I'd check the turn to "keep the pot small" and see what my opponent did......