Let's say blinds are $1/2, and on every street there is
one pot-sized bet and call. What we’re looking for is the effect of
preflop raises on the final pot size.
Preflop, the small blind completes and the big blind checks.
The pot is $4. On the flop, there is a $4 bet and call. On
the turn, there is a $12 bet and call. On the river, there is a
$36 bet and call. The final pot is $108.
Preflop, the small blind raises to $6. the big blind calls $5
more. The pot is $12. On the flop, turn, and river, there is
a pot-sized bet and a call. The final pot is $324.
Preflop, the small blind raises to $20. The big blind calls
$18 more. The pot is $40. This time the final pot size ends
up being $1080.
With no raise, the final pot is $108. With a raise to 3x the big
blind, the final pot is three times bigger: $324. With a raise to 10x
the big blind, the final pot is $1080, which equals $108 x 10. Two
conclusions we can draw are:
- A preflop raise increases the final pot size by the raise’s
multiple of the big blind.
- If there is a pot-sized bet and call on the flop, turn, and
river, then the pot ends up being 27 times bigger than it
was before the flop. This means that each of us put in half
that, or about 13 times the preflop pot.