Can someone explain pot committed

I know this may sound stupid but I just don't see it. I understand if you are in a betting war and you get down to your last few chips say less than two big blinds late in the game, but I don't see why you can't pull out if you can see that you are beat. I always seem to have someone say to me "how can you fold you were pot committed". I have come back a few times with very little chips to get into the money so I feel you don't just have to through it all away. Please help me see what I am missing. If you could show me an example that would be great too.
thanks Dirtydog

Well, to be pot committed you have to have some part of a dominant hand. Meaning that if you didnt think you had the best hand then you wouldnt be that far in with your chips. Scenario:

You:AA-1500 chips
OPP:KQ-1500 chips

Pre flop Betting you raise to 120
Re-raises: 240 to 360
You call

Flop comes A J 10
You both have 1140 chips
Pot is at 720

You bet out 540 on your set
He re raises all in.

At that point you think you are beat but you dont know for sure he has the straight. You have top set with 2 cards to come and more than half your chips in pot. At that point price for odds you would then be pot committed. I dont know if that helps but thats what i have to offer.

Here is a really good Link to Poker Terms. This Cover the Whole Gamut.
Add to Favorites and referr to it when needed.
Helps when someone uses a term that is often misused
or a different way of explaing what is happening in the play.

Glossary of poker terms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you're certain that you're beat and you think you'll have enough chips left after you fold to come back with, then I'd say you probably weren't all that pot committed. Especially in tournaments, where survival is of such importance, sometimes it can be the right play.

So I wouldn't be too worried about people saying "OMGZ, you were pot committed!" But if there's still a decent chance you can win the pot (say you've got two pair, but there's a straight draw on the board or something) it can often be worth throwing your last few chips in: if you're wrong then you're out, but if you come out on top then you should be in decent shape.

What it's more interesting to me though is watching for other players who are getting themselves pot committed. You may be able to lay your hand down if you know you're beat, but others can't. So often it's useful to know how pot committed a player is.

The most obvious use for this information is that you don't want to bluff a player that's pot committed.

On the other hand, if a player isn't pot committed yet and you think they've only got a marginal hand, you might want to bet enough so that it would commit them if they called - while they're looking at a bet of x, you're really telling them they need to make a decision for all of their chips with their marginal hand. Note that this is a very read-dependent and fragile situation and you need to be careful how you execute it - it could easily backfire if they decide to shove and you don't have a hand to fall back on

It's like a relationship.
...
Okay no it's not.

well said!

Cheers,

Thanks everyone, whats strange is I can see it from the other way like you stated OzExorcist making them pot committed but thats because I feel I have the best hand. I know what I can or can't do then but when I'm not sure if i do have the best hand then thats where I play guessing game and I could bail. But only If it would leave me with enough chip to get out of trouble. I think my problem started after playing a freeroll on absolute poker and got knocked down to 1500+ chips from around 6500 chips after two hours of play and then a half an hour later I was up to 150,000+ and then at 350,000+ a half an hour after that. So I guess I just feel you can come back from anything. I ended up coming in second. Thanks again for you input.

"I could bail. But only If it would leave me with enough chip to get out of trouble."

In that sentance there you basically admitted to getting pot commited, and thats excatly what it is, if you haven't got enought chip's to get you out of trouble you have to go with your hand when your getting the odds on the pot even with your marginal hand.

You have to remember one thing, sometimes being pot committed is a good thing. You think you are beat but the amount of chips left to you doesn't matter. Too many are in the pot. You put the rest in. And wonder of wonders, it was the big stack trying to play bully and you won. Or you do have the winning hand.

Pot committed is realtive. Like someone said above, if you think you have enough to come back with, then you can fold. But if you are unsure then put the rest in and see what happens. Who knows, it could be your lucky day.

The biggest thing about being pot committed is that it usually means you made a mistake somewhere before in your betting. If you lose look back and try to figure out where it happened. Learn from it. It could be a major leak in your play.

Or it could be just a donk!

Someone once said to me "being pot commited is just a state of mind" I tend to agree.

oh and XXXDIRTYDOGXXX, i do like to hear a good comeback story. Always makes for good reading

Thanks Jonstan and also to you bubbasbestbabe, your two post put me at ease. That's is how I see it most of the time (it being realtive or a just a state of mind ) and I also like the part:

"The biggest thing about being pot committed is that it usually means you made a mistake somewhere before in your betting. If you lose look back and try to figure out where it happened. Learn from it. It could be a major leak in your play."

Now that I can use thank you.

I consider being pot committed when there is big of percentage of my stack in the pot already and Im getting very good odds to call. I try to avoid this, but sometimes I'll find myself in that situation.

There isnt a rule that says you have to call a bet just because you are 'pot commited'. However, its foolish to put yourself that situation if you aren't planning to commit your stack.

Using the rule of 1/3, anytime 1/3 of your stack or the shortstack involved in the hand goes into the pot you have to consider the possiblity that you will be pot committed. An example:

Blinds are .50/1.00 and everyone at the table has a stack of $100. UTG raises it to $5, 2 players before you call, you call with 9s10s, and the blinds complete making the total pot $30. The flop is 7h 9d Js giving you mid pair and a gutshot draw. UTG bets out $25 its folded to you, you call because you think there is chance you have the best hand. The blinds fold.

Calling this flop bet means you have commited nearly 1/3 of your stack to the flop, this means there isn't a bet you can call on the turn and not (technically) commit yourself to the pot (unless your opponent, for some reason, bets $1 into an $80 pot). If the turn is, say an Ah and your opponent bets, you can easily fold here if you think you are beat. But what if its the As? You have the flush draw,a gutshot draw. Your opponent bets out $40 into the $80 pot. We'll ignore the fact that you arent getting proper odds to call for the sake of this example.

Now if you call, you have basically commited yourself to the pot. It'll cost you $30 to win a potential pot of $190 if your opponent bets the river. Not to mention the possiblity that even if you hit your straight or flush you still might not have the best hand.

If you miss and your opponent puts you all in, do you have to call? No you dont. You're getting 6.3 : 1 odds to call but you dont have to if you think you are beat. The error isnt folding your hand if you think are beat, but you are getting decent odds and/or you're 'pot committed'. The error actually putting yourself in that predicament in the first place. You committed 70% of your stack just to fold. What if he had bet $60 on the turn, you called, and folded the river. Now you've risked 90% of your stack just to fold.

This could've been easily avoided by folding PF, though it wasnt too bad of a call. On the flop, if you thought your opponent had a stronger hand than yours, a fold would've the correct move. But if you thought you had the better hand and you knew calling the bet would mean committing 1/3 of your stack. (And the next bet means you're either folding or committing yourself) you have a better chance of winning if you push all in here.

This is a bit of an extreme example, but you'll see it a lot in the early stages of an MTT or SNG.

That post helps me see it a little better thanks.