The "I had xxx invested in the pot so I had to call...." mindset

[parachute]

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Following the logic, it would seem that if I'm playing any hand in the top half, then I could put most of my stack in preflop, and no matter what I'll likely have pot-odds to call postflop.

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That's right. If you go all in except for a dollar pre-flop, you will always have pot odds to put in the extra dollar on the flop if someone bets. That doesn't mean that your preflop action was correct; it means that after your bonehead preflop play, calling with your last dollar is the best you can do for your flop action.

If doing A makes B the best choice later on, it doesn't follow that doing A was a good idea.

This is what this argument feels like:

Us: If you're losing by two goals with a minute left, you should pull your goalie.

You: Following the logic, it would seem that I should give up two goals on purpose, and no matter what it will be correct to pull my goalie.

In reality, if you play the top 50% of hands, people who are playing the top 20% of hands will take all your money.

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I think that when you calculate pot-size, at the very least you need to not include the money you've put in.

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This is still not correct.

[Lawrence Ng]

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I hear people saying things like "Well, I had $40 in the pot, so I had to call the $40 more" all the time in casinos and I even see it showing up in 2+2 posts now. Its totally irrelevant, isn't it?


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Pot size matters, not how much is invested.

Lawrence.