Pot Committed???

OK... here is a question... What does it mean to truly be "pot committed"???

I ask because, I have always held that the right tournament strategy is one that keeps you IN the tournament... Also there have been tourneys in which I have been able to come back from being stupidly shortstacked (in one case I fought my way back from having only 75 chips and somehow managed to get back to having 4k (of course then I donked out becuase I got impatient LOL but that is another thread entirely) I at least finished ITM though... LOL

Anyway, many would have probably given up and tossed those last measly chips even if thier chances of winning the pot at that point were very low (I have seen it done even on the various televised tours). But IF I had done that I wouldn't have gotten anything and well... something is ALWAYS better than nothing...

SO what do you folks think?

good question it depends. Ounce years ago i was in a live tourney, final table, big blind 75% of my short stack. abot four callers so i would more than quadriple my stack, i have 3 5 of clubs the board is Ac 10h 9d i checked somebody bet another raised and another went allin, me wanting to get as far as possible in the tourney as each place gets more money folded. the next two community cards gave me not just a straight but the absolute nuts a str8 flush, probly would of went to the lead, from then on i understood pot commitment.lol

IMO pot committed does not mean you have to play the next hand. It typically means you have already bet enough of your chips in this pot on an earlier round that you would have to call almost any board / fresh bet round. If I commit more than 40% of my chips preflop, then I will be very likely to shove the rest in post flop on all but the worst boards.
I think you made the right fold there in your live tourney as you were dead to 2 near-"perfect" cards. Of course that assumes that moving up one position pays out more.
But there have been many times where I have had less than 2BB and just kept folding as long as I had to which either moved me up in pay, or allowed me to catch a good enough starting hand to chip up and get back into the mix. Even won a freeroll that way where I had less than one BB at the final table and caught a few hands and ultimately chipped up and grabbed the win.
The real time to decide to push is usually when I am 6-7 BB left. If I don't start shoving there then I get to be to small and will get a call almost every time. Good luck out there.

Well if you push in with most of your chips so your screwed whether you fold your crappy hand or play it you are pot commited. So most likely you play it hoping the opponent is bluffing or you get lucky.

Poker is situational, so there are no absolute answers. Pot committed to me means that i have invested such a large portion of my stack that what remains will give me no chance of success in the tourny if i were to fold.

Pot committed in a literal sense means that you have odds to call off your stack unimproved. Your opponents range is such that you can not fold given the odds you are getting.

Example: AK 100 BBs deep

You raise to 3 BBs, 3-bet to 12, you 4-bet to 40 BBs and villain shoves for another 60. You have to call 60 BBs for a pot of 40*2+60 = 140 BBs, giving you 14:6 = 7:3 odds. You need to be 30% or better to call. If they have QQ+/AK you have 40% thus are pot committed. If however it is a complete nit who only shoves AA/KK there, you are not even 20% to win so you are not committed. Obviously there are some situations you can get into where even if he only has AA you are committed. Generally it just means that given what range of hands you could each have, they are getting too good odds to fold and their money's basically going in if you put it in.

zachvac said:

If however it is a complete nit who only shoves AA/KK there, you are not even 20% to win so you are not committed. Obviously there are some situations you can get into where even if he only has AA you are committed. Generally it just means that given what range of hands you could each have, they are getting too good odds to fold and their money's basically going in if you put it in.

Click to expand...

I am not exactly sure what you mean here... (bolded portion) could you elaborate?

Thanks!

bestoboth said:

I am not exactly sure what you mean here... (bolded portion) could you elaborate?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Sorry I was unclear. Basically if you know a certain opponent will ONLY go all-in with either AA or KK in that spot, you can still fold because you are crushed (<20% to win). On the other hand against the same opponent if you have say a 1500 chip stack and put 1499 in the middle, even if your opponent flips over AA you can't fold with 1 chip left. You are what is considered "pot committed".

tjyff said:

Well if you push in with most of your chips so your screwed whether you fold your crappy hand or play it you are pot commited. So most likely you play it hoping the opponent is bluffing or you get lucky.

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When your pot committed...you probably started out with the winning hand and bet it after the flop...then some idiot hangs in and draws over you...and you just know he did.,...but you have so many chips in..all you can do is call and hope he is bluffing.

Thanks for the input folks!

I think I get it, although I wonder still whether or not I should (personally) forgo this notion entirely... cause stupid me, I sometimes get the feeling that I am committed when I know, deep down, that I CAN and SHOULD FOLD! LOL

I suspect I have used this idea to stay in pots that I knew were LOST! LOL

I am like Dragomir in the 2008 wsop I CANNOT FOLD LOL and I am just afraid that even entertaining the notion of being 'pot committed' by any definition will keep me in LONG after I should have just given up the ghost, as it were... LOL,

man it is just HARD sometimes to lay down those good cards that SHOULD have meant the nutz but because some jerk chased and caught a lucky draw... OH WAIT unless i am the jerk LOL and that HAS been known to happen a couple times! LOL hmmm... more food for thought!

I don't believe that "pot committed" exists for me. . .I will put 4500 of my 5000 in the pot and fold on the river if I fail to achieve the hand I sought. . .this may seem a stupid stategy but I cash in at least 1 Fulltilt freeroll a day. . .with as many bad players as good those freerolls are like rolling dice, but I manage to maintain some consistency. . .and it's cause I "KNOW WHEN TO FOLD THEM," and don't allow the term "pot committed" to phase my decision.

To me being pot commited is for example you are in a fixed limit game in the big blind(which we will say is 10.00).
there are ten people at the table and seven people call.
The button raises to 20 and the small blind fold's to you.
Here are your pot odd's.
Theres 95.00 in the pot right now including your big blind.
so your getting roughly 8 to 1 on your mney to see a flop.
In my opinion any two cards in my hand are worth the flop.

Pot committed means that the pot is laying you such good odds, or that so many of your chips are already in the pot, that you have to call.