playing small pots strategy

[Philwannab]

I am playing with a home group that has a wide range of players from intermediate to somewhat advanced. We play NL tournements. My leak is that when I have the best hand, I bet too big to give the drawing players no odds to call a draw. The pot size bet gives the flush draw 2:1 odds but I get chased down by guys with 4.1:1 odds. They call the flop bet and then a rag comes up on the turn and then I have to bet even more to get them to fold and can be risking a much to high % of my stack than I am comfortable with.

Beermantm- PM me cause I am interested.

[skillzilla]

Beermantm PM me

[timmay29]

I wonder if helmuth uses this strategy depending on how big a donk he perceives his oponent to be. If he thinks the other guy will call with any kind of odds or draw then he keeps it small, if he thinks the guy is a solid pro he would tend to not mess around and make a closer to pot sized bet.

[sok0]

estingt

[debater]

PM me as well!

[Fishy McDonk]

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This is very much the way my betting system is designed . . .

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Are we talking about tourneys here? I assume that is what Helmuth is talking about, but the OP didn't specify.

[toms2866]

[ QUOTE ]
I wonder if helmuth uses this strategy depending on how big a donk he perceives his oponent to be.

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Are we talking about tourneys here? I assume that is what Helmuth is talking about, but the OP didn't specify.

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I noticed Helmuth using the micro-probe in the High Stakes Poker tv show (cash game, world-class opponents), with mixed results. He was the only player (I noticed) to make a micro-probe bet in any of the episodes.

[immortal cow]

Very risky against new fishermen. If you're playing with new players, you better not bet the pot or you risk a large stack. Why not just check?

[trentk268]

Yes, read Phil Gordon's Little green Book of Hold 'Em. Doyle Brunson has a good point that I've heard repeated often: with big pairs (say KK) you're either gonna win a small pot, or lose a big one. Pot sized bets have that property. If someone hits a set and raises you on the turn, it's a hard hand to get away from.

[Mcot]

The problem with the small pot theory, with online games, is that you don't have the added benefit of getting visual reads on your oponenets, and thus, you tend to be a little lost.

I think most online tournament plays make there bets bigger more to define there oponents hand, and there own. Also with starting stacks small and blinds fast, online tournaments tend to have higher bets because most people are playing with between 10-40bb the whole tournament.

The small pot theory is better applied to deep stacked live nl tournaments because it allows limited risk in the early stages while giving up some edge in money on big hands. Most use this to naviage the early feilds on big 10,000 buy in tournaments because its basically a defense asgainst getting stacked early by pricing yourself in in a loosing situation and/or getting sucked out on.

Again, the visual tells are important with this because if your giving draws better odds to call you then you need to be able to know if they hit there draw or if you still have them beat by showdown.


As applied to cash games I find this is a totally inefective strategy and will have you guessing a lot, and ala Phil in high stakes you will have no idea whats going on.