Getting your opponent(s) pot committed

 

Before we analyze this move deeper, let’s see what being pot committed means. If you commit more than half of your existing chips to a hand, you’re most likely pot committed. You don’t need to commit even half, it can be much less, but whenever you feel like you’ve stuffed so much money into the pot that folding would be mathematically incorrect, you are pot committed.

 

When you’re pot committed, you will most likely go all-in, thus risking your very survival at the given table. All-ins always come with reduced odds, because there’s a lot more at stake in them than simply losing a hand. Situations when you find yourself pot committed, and eventually forced to hit the ominous “all-in” button, arise more often in tournament play than at cash tables.

 

As the blinds progressively get bigger and bigger, and you fail to make your stack grow at about the same rate, sooner or later you will be pot committed.

 

This is exactly why you should get your opponent(s) pot committed when you feel like you’re on a good hand. Being pot committed involves reduced odds for their hands, and that’s exactly how you want them playing. You also want to go for maximum value, so it makes a lot of sense in that respect too.

The moment to pot-commit someone is on the turn. It is the decisive point of a hand value-wise, and you should never miss the opportunity because you may not come across one like that for some time to come…

 

If you do get your opponent pot committed on the turn, he’ll have no choice but to go all-in on the river, so you’ll trap him well and truly.