[maca9]

[ QUOTE ]
It's possible that you could have gotten away depending on the action. On this board, a crai on the turn usually means you're beat.

But the point is not how to avoid getting stacked. The point is how to get appropriate value from your hand. The question you have to ask yourself when you see a flop and you have an overpair or TPTK kind of hand is "if villain has a hand he is willing to get it all in with on this board, do I expect to have the best of it?" If the answer is "no", you want to take steps to avoid building the bot so big that you are committed to getting it all in, because when that happens you'll be in bad shape.

When you hear people talk about SPR (stack to pot ratio), this is what it's all about. Your SPR in hand 1 is 8 (villain has 8x the pot on the flop). So the question is, will he put in 8 times this pot on this board with a hand worse than AA? It isn't likely that he will. With an overpair you can expect people to put in about 4 or 5x the pot with a worse hand; beyond that and they aren't sticking around without a hand that is probably better than yours.

Since we recognize that villain will probably only put in 4 or 5x the pot with a hand like AQ or JJ, betting the pot on every street isn't necessary. In fact, JJ might put in 4x the pot, but it probably isn't doing it with you potting every street. He'll need to get a sense somewhere that you are weak. That's why checking behind on the turn might be most effective here.

Now let's say the pot was twice as much- you guys managed to get it to $6 instead of 3. Now your SPR is around 4 and you should be looking to build the pot as quickly and aggressively as possible. Why? Because villain will put in his full stack with a much wider ranger of hands now. He won't have a chance to get away once he realizes you really are strong. So while he still might have a set and AQ,JJ etc. in his range, you'll see AQ and JJ more often when all the chips go in.

[/ QUOTE ]


Thanks Jeff76.


Thats the best explanation I've ever had for SPR and why pot size is important.

Now it makes sense!!!


Its not about playng so you avoid getting stacked in a given situation. Its about playing the hand a way which mazimizes your value so that in aggregate across many hands ("long run") you win the most.

Part of that long run will include losing to sets, bad calls getting lucky etc....But if you maximise value by playing better SPR you will make more when against a worse hand so overall you'll make more.


I hope I got that right. Certainly made sense reading it.


Thanks again. Awesome post.