When are you pot committed???

Hi guys.

I`m struggling with this one!!!

If you start a tourny with 1500 chips at what stage should you start to panic?

The reason I ask is because on a few occasions I have found myself sitting with something like AK. I bet an amount (not really important) but then I`m in the situation where I am left with say only 800 chips. Flop comes, I miss it. At that stage I feel I have got to go for it as I am down on chips. If the other guy bets say 100 chips I will go all in, thinking (or hoping) the best they have is middle pair.

I would like your thoughts or advice on this situation genrally.

I hope you understand what I mean???

Ronaldadio

i like to stress the difference between knowing your beat and being pot commited. but sides that yuo have to pick your battles, 800 is two doubles from being a contender again, at 3 doubles i panic. can you afford the bb a few times. if so then wait for a better spot, if not then go for it.

Here are my 2 cents.

The first thing that you want to remember is to only preflop raise with premium hands. You will get 1 or 2 callers if you make the appropriate raise, and then post flop play becomes crucial.

The second thing that you want to remember is that you want to maintain control of the hand. If you control the betting and the pace of the hand, then you will either have your opponent dominated or he will fold. Don't call huge bets preflop with unmade hands, that gives you opponent control of the hand, and too many bad things could happen in this situation. Make your preflop raise, and re-evaluate after the flop. If the board is non threatening, you can make a bluff attempt. If it is a threatening board and there is a bet on the table, fold.

The third thing that you want to remember is to not commit too much of your stack preflop. If you are at the beginning of a tournament and you hit a premium hand, you should never bet 700 chips preflop. If you start with 1500 chips and the blinds are 10/20, then make an 80 chip raise (4xBB). This gives you equity in the hand, isolates the table to 1 or 2 opponents, and allows you to fold the hand cheap if you know you don't hit and know you are beat. Once again, if you are holding AK and the board hits 269, you likely still have the best hand at this point. It would be appropriate for you to make a half pot sized bluff at the pot to see if you can take the pot down. If you are called, you get another card to make your hand. Most likely though the table will fold because you would have to be a moron to call a 4x BB preflop raise with any of those cards.

The most important thing to remember is that you don't want to jam the pot with an unmade hand. Wait until you hit your hand, THEN jam the pot. You will have far greater success.

Ace gave you some solid advice above. It sounds like you're getting nervous if you lose half your original stack early in the tournament? My question to you is why?? You should have the confidence to understand that a bad start means the premium hands should come to you eventually. You just have to play out the bad string of cards without losing too much of your stack. I've seen it many, many times playing SnG's. A player will be down in the bottom of the chip count, complaining about not getting cards, then BOOM, here they come. They usually finish in the money.

As far as when you'd be pot committed. IMO, once you're below 10X the BB, you are short stacked and should be looking to push a decent hand. (all in for the most part, especially if you get in middle position and are first to act) The scenario you put in your post doesn't sound like the type of hand I'd feel pot committed. If you missed the pot, put your opponent on a middle pair, why call the all in knowing you're an underdog???

To me, if you know (or have a very good idea) that you're beaten, you're never pot committed. If you feel you have a chance, or a draw, or some % of a bluff, etc, and especially if we're talking pre-flop when there are 5 cards to come, I would say once 1/2 your stack is in, because if you are put all-in after that you're getting at least 2:1 on your money.

Pot committed should be a function of irresistable odds, not the feeling that you've wasted chips -- as they say in accounting, that is a sunk cost so forget about it.

medeiros13 said:

Ace gave you some solid advice above. It sounds like you're getting nervous if you lose half your original stack early in the tournament? My question to you is why?? You should have the confidence to understand that a bad start means the premium hands should come to you eventually. You just have to play out the bad string of cards without losing too much of your stack. I've seen it many, many times playing SnG's. A player will be down in the bottom of the chip count, complaining about not getting cards, then BOOM, here they come. They usually finish in the money.

As far as when you'd be pot committed. IMO, once you're below 10X the BB, you are short stacked and should be looking to push a decent hand. (all in for the most part, especially if you get in middle position and are first to act) The scenario you put in your post doesn't sound like the type of hand I'd feel pot committed. If you missed the pot, put your opponent on a middle pair, why call the all in knowing you're an underdog???

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Very good advise! Like already stated...if you can afford to post the BB a couple more times, or many more times, dont sweat it. If you miss the flop, assess the situation (will vary from table to table) and decide if it is in your best interest to foldem em. That is a huge issue with poker is knowing when you are beat and when to found your hand. If you have second best hand...whats the cost to see another card? The only time you should be considering going "all in" is if you have a fairly good chance of winning the hand..and you cannot post another big blind. Hope this helps!