Controlling the pot size and a few hands

In the beginning stages of reading Professional NL holdem – the new Ed Miller book. A lot of that book is about controlling pot size, something I considered in the past, but probably not at the technical level that is optimal. I am starting to try to work on this.

Here is one hand where it backfires

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)



Hero ($247.30)

BB ($123)



Preflop: Hero is Button with Ac, 7h.

Button raises to $7, BB calls $4.



Flop: ($13) 8d, 7s, 5s (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks.



Turn: ($13) 3s (2 players)

BB bets $12, Hero calls $12.



River: ($37) 3c (2 players)

BB bets $36, Hero calls $36.



Final Pot: $109



Results in white below:

BB has Ad 3h (three of a kind, threes).

Hero has Ac 7h (two pair, sevens and threes).

Outcome: BB wins $109.


While it backfires, I think I played this correct, at least on the turn and river. There are lots of hands he can have that beat me on the flop and turn. This player is such that if he bluffs the turn (either as semi-bluff or conventional), he will also fire the river. If he has value, he usually ch-calls a moderate bet on the river. So on the turn bet, I see several reasons to only call a) keeps pot smaller with a marginal hand, b) win more if he is bluffing, c) extract value from small river bet if he checks.

The only point where I think I could (should?) have played different is by betting the flop. I let him catch up, but if I know he has A3, I love the check on the flop.


Here is an example where everything worked out a lot better

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Hero ($317.20)
BB ($243.10)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is Button with [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qd.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qc.gif[/img].
[color=#CC3333]Hero raises to $7[/color], BB calls $4.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($13) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/2c.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/kh.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/kc.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
BB checks, Hero checks.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($13) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/tc.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
[color=#CC3333]BB bets $12[/color], Hero calls $12.

[b]River:[/b] ($37) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/6h.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
[color=#CC3333]BB bets $36[/color], Hero calls $36.

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $109

Results in white below: [color=#FFFFFF]
BB has Ts 3s (two pair, kings and tens).
Hero has Qd Qc (two pair, kings and queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $109. [/color]

Heads up – when you check, opponents often take that as a sign to charge with turn and river bets. With QQ on an ace high flop, this is an ideal spot to keep the pot small. Sure, I will sometimes call turn and river bets and lose to Ax. But there are enough cases like this hand to make calling profitable.


I flopped a flush here, and tried to play a big pot. Unfortunately, the guy had a set and filled on the turn with too little behind to consider getting away.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)



Hero ($204.40)

Button ($173)



Preflop: Hero is BB with Js, 6s.

Button raises to $7, Hero calls $4.



Flop: ($13) Qs, Ts, 2s (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $8, BB raises to $24, Button calls $16.



Turn: ($61) 2d (2 players)

BB bets $50, Button calls $50.



River: ($161) 3d (2 players)

BB bets $94, Button calls $93 (All-In).



Final Pot: $347



Results in white below:

Hero has Js 6s (flush, queen high).

Button has Qd Qh (full house, queens full of twos).

Outcome: Button wins $347. Hero wins $1.

Sometimes, players hang themselves (also – having position is nice)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)



Hero ($209.50)

BB ($346.90)



Preflop: Hero is Button with 7d, Td.

Button raises to $7, BB raises to $12, Hero calls $4.



Flop: ($23) 9h, 8s, Jc (2 players)

BB bets $20, Hero calls $20.



Turn: ($63) 5d (2 players)

BB bets $60, Button raises to $179.5 (All-In), BB calls $119.50.



River: ($0) 5c (2 players, 1 all-in)



Final Pot: $422



Results in white below:

BB has 8c Jh (two pair, jacks and eights).

Hero has 7d Td (straight, jack high).

Outcome: Hero wins $422.


When stacks are 140 bb deep, position becomes much more important. Here I called a reraise PF with a very marginal hand. With flopped bottom 2, I am willing to get all in, and I don’t want to keep the pot small. Further, I am betting big to protect my hand from many different cards that could hurt me (and many that hurt me, I can’t detect).

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($277.20)
BB ($274.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8c, 5c.
Button raises to $7, BB raises to $20, Hero calls $12.

Flop: ($39) 5s, Qh, 8d (2 players)
BB bets $36, Button raises to $144, BB raises to $288, Button raises to $403.2 (All-In), BB calls $4.39 (All-In).

Turn: ($623.80) 3h (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($623.80) 8h (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $623.80

Results in white below:
BB has Kh Ks (two pair, kings and eights).
Hero has 8c 5c (full house, eights full of fives).
Outcome: Hero wins $734.60.

I have a lot of work to do on controlling pot size, especially with working on PF actions influence post-flop decisions. The problem I see is that varying raise sizes does give information away about your hand. Perhaps I need to randomly vary raise sizes, but then also for hands where one size is better I make sure I use that size more often.