Ah, pot commitment. The closet maniac's excuse to get wild and reckless. Pot commitment, which refers to the pot odds for your present stack size compared to your odds of winning the hand, is a fairly basic concept in poker, but unfortunately, it's also one that is often used to justify bone-headed behaviour. 'Pot committed' happened on the prior bet. On the turn if you call off or bet out 1/3 of your stack then you are pot committed. On the turn (or flop if no turn bet) should have pushed or folded. If the prior bet was $6 or more then you were pot committed. For sure pot committed if the prior bet was $11 or more. You got where you are you are 17:1.

• Poker Pot Committed
• Poker Pot Committed
• Poker Pot Committed Definition

What is pot commitment?

Pot commitment is a familiar topic to just about any half knowledgeable poker player.

At its most basic level, pot commitment means you deem the pot is offering sufficient odds, at that instance, taking into account the strength of your hand, that you will be willing to play for the rest of your chips, if need be.

Whether you actually want to play for the rest of your chips, of course, is another matter entirely.

Commit the fish

Poker Pot Committed

When we have strong hands, i.e. strong enough hands that were all our chips to go in the middle, we would in all likelihood be favorite, then we obviously favor a situation where this outcome happens.

In a fantasy world, we could bet certain amounts and every time our opponents would call every time. The real world is different however, these days, most players have some idea at least how to play poker.

Poker Pot Committed

Still, occasionally, we can be blessed with a player who doesn't read the board and/or game texture very well, effectively just playing their own hand and not taking into account what you might have.

If you have a strong hand against these guys, you can bet it big on every street, getting all your opponents chips on or before the river, since if they have a reasonable holding, there's a high chance you'll get them to pay you off.

Commit smart players

Against smart or even average players you may have to do something different. Hand reading abilities and ability to figure out your opponents tendencies and thus likely reactions are vital towards getting the best poker result.

Let's take a look at a quick example of how you would go about getting players to commit to the pot when you flop a hidden monster.

$1-$2 NL holdem. 6-max. Your stack $316. You have been fairly active and have been looked up when you held a combination of both good hands, pure bluffs and drawing hands already, so people will be finding it difficult to pin you down to what hand you might have at any one time, exactly what you want to be engineering in the minds of your opponents!

A straightforward player with about $180, raises 3 big blinds UTG, you have 6s6h in cutoff and elect to call his raise. Big blind also calls. Pot is $19. With a hand like 66, basically you are looking to hit your set on the flop or be done with the hand if you miss and someone bets.

Flop brings Kd 6c 2s. Bingo! Big blind checks. UTG bets $15, a bet, that makes it look like at least that he's representing the King. Now if he was a very aggressive player who could barrel 2 or even 3 streets with little or nothing, you might think about slowplaying your set of sixes here as a raise would be a warning sign to all but the most maniacal of players.

You could still make a case for just calling this player on the flop, as if he has top pair top kicker he might very well continue to fire believing he's value betting, however if your reading of him is even slightly off, say if he's got a hand Like KQ or KJ, he might slow down on the turn, or even if he does have the hand you are hoping AK, if he's even tighter than you think he is, he might still slow down on the turn.

Therefore in order to get him wedded to the pot, overall, it's best to get money in there now, and make it more likely that he and you end up stacking him. So how much should you make the raise for on the flop. Your opponent has $159 left.

So $34 already in pot, if you raise him another $28 that makes the pot $90 if he calls. Leaving him $131. A standard enough half pot size bet on the turn of $45 on turn makes a pot of $180.

If he calls this, which seems likely, if he has top pair top kicker, with less than half a pot sized bet in chips on the river, you will have effectively pot committed him, and get all his chips, all achieved by your judicious decision making, particularly on the flop, as your small raise here, sealed his doom!

Having a commitment phobia

How about situations where you have a good hand but not so good that you are 'pot committed'. How do you avoid being pot committed?

Getting back to Ace King and to a lesser extent Ace Queen, raising with these type of hands is pretty standard play in position i.e. either when you are first to play or raising limpers or indeed perhaps even re-raising when in position.

There is an argument for not re-raising from the blinds and merely calling, that way you have a good disguised hand, as no one will put you on AK or AQ, because surely you would have re-raised with them.

By not re-raising preflop it can make post flop play easier. If you flop a good hand like top pair top kicker, then if facing bets it'll be far more likely that someone is value betting you thinking they are ahead, or pure bluffing you, rather than someone betting because they have put you on AK, and hoping that you can't lay it down like the previous example, since there is little chance that they can put you on AK in such a spot.

Therefore, although you have given up on the chance to take the pot down preflop, and you might have to give up on the flop or turn, if you don't hit anything, you have also gained the benefit of reducing the chances of being pot committed.

Slow down

Other ways to avoid getting pot committed are to slow down on the turn especially when you have position.

That way if you have a good but not great hand, your opponent might have folded his worse hands than yours on the turn anyway. But if he had being trying to trap you, when you call his river bet as you will almost definitely will do, you minimize the amount you could have lost in the hand, and should he be value betting the river light or pure bluffing, you'll earn more than you would have done should you have bet the turn and got him to fold.

So it's a win-win situation by being appropriately cautious.

Can't escape pot commitment all the time

In no limit poker, getting into uncomfortable situations, where you are pot committed, but not so enthused about it, are unavoidable.

As you improve your hand reading and reading of opponents, the amount of times this happens, while never being eliminated, should be reduced. In addition the percentage of times where you are actually ahead in these uncomfortable situations will increase, due to your improved reading of the game.

This will be the case, as you will have managed to escape getting pot committed with second best hands more often, and be getting to pot commitment stage at times when your opponent is actually bluffing or betting light, rather than when he has an actual great hand!

A player is pot committed in poker if the pot is so big that he is getting great pot odds so that he is obligated to call if someone puts him all-in. This means that the pot odds he is getting are so high that he is priced in, given his hand and his opponent’s presumed range of hands, and it would be a mathematical error to fold.

This simple concept is often misunderstood or used to justify making questionable calls. Still, you need to understand why and when pot commitment issues arise, to avoid being trapped and be able to use pot commitment to your benefit.

When are you Pot Commitment Preflop?

When your stack is relatively short compared to the blinds, like in the later stages of no-limit Texas Holdem tournaments, pot commitment issues can easily arise before the flop. In most cases, if you commit a third of your stack or more, you are committed to a preflop all-in bet. To better understand when you become pot committed in preflop all-in heads-up situations, let’s examine the tables below.

The first table is against an opponent that you estimate will push all-in with a tight range (10%), and the second against an opponent pushing with a loose range (40%).

The first column indicates the amount of your stack that you have already committed. The second designates the minimum equity that a hand needs to have against your opponent’s range to be committed to calling. The third shows which hands pass this condition, meaning that they are mathematically pot committed to calling an all-in push from your opponent.

HU Against a tight range of 10% top hands (66+,AJo+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs)

Against an opponent with a wide range of 40% top hands

How can you avoid pot commitment traps?

When the effective stacks are deep, pot commitment arises principally in later streets. As the pot size increases, you must consider pot commitment issues.

If you do not have a strong hand, you can plan your betting to avoid getting pot committed. When you are pot committed, and your opponent puts you all-in, folding is a mistake, so you have to call. This means that, unless you have a hand that rates to be ahead, you are getting pulled into putting more chips to the pot as an underdog. So, consider pot commitment issues when you are betting or calling a bet to avoid such unfavorable situations.

On the contrary, If you have a strong hand, you can size up your bets to lure the opponent into becoming pot committed!

If you risk getting pot committed, should go all-in instead?

Another thing to consider is that, in situations that you know the money will go into the pot one way or another, you generally prefer to be the one to push all-in. Unless you have a lock hand that cannot lose, you want to have fold equity on your side. So, in that case, if you believe that your opponent will not check the hand down, push all-in first to gain fold equity!

For example, consider that you are playing out of position against a very loose-aggressive player. On the flop, you have a flush draw and are pot committed. In this situation, if you check, your opponent will most probably put you all-in and you will be obliged to call. Since you only have a drawing hand, you should bet first. The fact that you are pot committed (because you have a strong draw) does not mean that your opponent is pot committed too!

Do not pass the point of no return with a mediocre hand!

A fundamental concept of poker is that you want to be playing for small pots when you have a small hand and for big pots when you have a big hand. Therefore, with a weak hand, you do not want to find yourself in situations where you become pot committed and are forced to put the remaining of your chips in. You can consider this as a point of no return that you do not want to cross when you have a mediocre hand. If you do, you may be compelled to put the remaining of your chips resulting in a big pot, while your hand is weak. Let’s take a look at an example.

An Example

You are on the button with K♦J♠. The blinds are 1$-2$. The action is folded to you, and you have an effective stack of 100$.

You raise to 6$. The blinds both call, and the flop comes J♥7♦6♠. You have top pair with a good kicker. The action is checked to you and you decide to bet for value but also to protect your pair from overcards or possible straight draws. You bet 11$ into an 18$ pot. The small blind folds and the big blind calls, so the pot is now 40$.

The turn is a blank card, the 2♦. Your opponent checks and you bet full pot, 40$ (a questionable bet). Your opponent check-raises you all-in. What should you do?

Well, the pot is 120$, and your opponent has raised an additional 43$ that puts you all-in. You have to call 43$ to win potentially 163$, so you are getting about 3.8 to 1. These are pot odds that you cannot turn down. The minimum equity needed to call in this spot is 21%. You estimate that you have more equity and you are obliged to call!

Even if the call is correct, something went wrong somewhere in the hand. You built a big pot with a medium-strength hand. Even more, because you got pot committed, you were forced to put in your remaining chips. So, finally, you bet your whole stack with top pair, not a good outcome!

Myths about pot commitment

Sometimes players feel that the money they have already invested in the pot obliges them to continue with their hand. Nonetheless, whatever amount one has contributed to the pot is no longer his. There is no reason to throw good money after bad if the situation is not favorable! Pot commitment has to do with pot odds and with the equity of your hand, not with the amount that you have already invested.

You can even be pot committed without having invested a single chip int the pot! Consider the following scenario.

After a big all-in confrontation, you are left with only one big blind. You are on the button with 6♣6♦, three players limp, and the cut-off raises to 6bb. You are getting 5.5 to 1 on a call, and there is a considerable chance that others will fold, leaving you heads up with the cut-off. In this case, you are committed to putting your last chips in, even if you haven’t committed any chips up to that point!

On the opposite side, at times, you may have committed a large part of your stack but not be pot committed.

An Example

You are on the button with 9♥8♥. A player from middle position open-raises and the cut-off calls. You decide to call as you have position on both.

The flop comes Q♣7♥6♣, so you pick up an open-ended straight draw and a back-door flush draw. The first player bets half pot, and you both call. The turn brings the 7♣, the first player bets full pot, and the second player raises him! You are the short stack and, at that point of the hand, you have committed two-thirds of your stack. So, what should you do?

Poker Pot Committed Definition

You are getting 8 to 1 on a call, so pot odds are favorable to draw. However, given the action and the turn card, you may be drawing dead! Drawing to a straight when the action implies that one or two opponents may have a flush or even a set is not a good idea. In this spot, you must keep your losses to a minimum and wait for a better occasion to push your chips all-in!

In a nutshell

Pot commitment is often misunderstood. It is a relatively simple concept, designating situations where pot odds are so high, forcing you to call an all-in bet given your presumed equity. However, understanding how and at what point you become pot committed can help you avoid some traps and use pot commitment to your benefit.

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This tutorial is part of the Advanced Poker Strategy Course. You can continue to the next tutorial on Three-Betting!