Pot odds and Texas Holdem Tournaments
You’re NOT Getting the Odds to Call
“But oh well, I was getting the odds to call, I HAD to
call.” Oh really? Who told you to call?? Your momma?
Best Friend? Wait I know, it was a book written for
limit hold ‘em cash games wasn’t it? Well if you’re
repeating the opening line of this column, chances are
you’re wiping away the tears of yet another tournament
loss. Pot odds as they relate to
Texas Hold
'em tournament
poker are becoming one of the top-heard excuses
for playing lazy, disengaged poker. It’s an easy way
to lose a tournament quickly. Yes, I said lose, not
take a bad beat or get sucked out on or have God
personally flip you the bird, but lose!
Before I get into the meat of the
subject, what is the notion of “pot odds?”
In brief, it is the idea of taking favorable
odds on a
bet. For example, if with one card to come you’re a
four-to-one underdog but the bet to see the river is
only one-tenth of the pot, you would generally call.
Thus you risk one bet to win ten more with odds only
four-to-one against you. Still confused? Then stop
here, mark the page, go read an article on pot odds
written by someone else. But do keep in mind that in a
cash game, pot odds are invaluable.
When used in a cash game,
pot
odds are a solid tool in a quality players’
arsenal to sweep up all the extra chips the tourists
leave on the table for you. And in a cash game, when
you’re on the unhappy side of a four-to-one dog and
lose, you simply buy more chips and keep firing away,
knowing that a week from now you’ll be better off than
when you began because of these smart decisions. Yet
so many players bring this concept into
Texas Hold
'em poker tournaments
when the situation simply is not the same.
I’ll put it bluntly for tournament
play. Playing the odds in a pot is an easy way
to get broke in the early or middle stages of a
tournament. Why? Simple. As you progress through the
blind levels and build that lovely chip stack of yours
guess what other people are doing? Yes believe it or
not some are actually doing the same thing! So what
happens now when you take only pot odds into yet
another confrontation with a stack of the same size?
You eventually lose and get broke. In Texas Hold
'em tournament
poker you have to play pots to win, but don’t make
calls based solely on the math. Math needs time to be
correct, a commodity you simply don’t have in a
tourney. When you use psychology to make your opponent
give you his chips, they’re yours 100% of the time.
Now when you find yourself with (hopefully) a nice
percentage chance to win a pot, even if they suck out
you won’t be broke. If anything, you’ll just be
sliding them back the same stack of chips you took
from them originally! Oh they’ll pat themselves on the
back for making the “odds-correct” CALL. Eventually
though, they’ll be out and go back to all their books
to figure out why their mathematical play didn’t win
for them.
Now why is the word call showing up
with such displeasure all the time? If you’re not
laying the odds, you’re taking them. And anyone who
has ever gambled at all on anything knows that when
you take the odds, you’re the sucker. In a
time-sensitive situation, getting the chips eventually
just won’t cut it, you need those chips NOW, or
yesterday if you know the right dealer! So if you
figure your opponent to be on a flush draw, you have
the opportunity to lay him terrible odds. The added
bonus here is that he may just surrender those chips
with no fight. But if you’re calling a bet with a
flush draw because “the pot is laying you decent
odds,” then YOU ARE AN UNDERDOG to win the pot. In
short, rather than surrendering a small bet to the
superior hand, you’re giving your opponent a great
chance to take more chips from you. If you only give
them a little by laying down the draw, then you have a
lot more chips to do damage when you’re holding the
nuts. In short, by not taking the odds for a draw, you
get better value out of powerful plays and powerful
hands later.
Yes, there are exceptions and times
when you do have to play your hand for some reason. If
you’ve invested a large amount of your stack already
and folding would leave you helpless anyway, you’ll
probably take the bet. By then though, you hope you
draw out to cover for an earlier mistake in the hand.
But in general, if your stack is healthy and you are
thinking about calling off a large chunk of it on a
draw, think again because more often than not they’re
gone. Then you’re “just alright,” and living, but why
give up the status of being a big force at the tables?
Another exception would be when
drawing involves a guaranteed call if you make. If you
can call a small bet with a strong draw and you’re
sure your opponent is the kind of sucker who needs to
see that his read was right, go for it. Here you’re
not playing the odds, you play the player. You know
he’s weak and can’t trust his own instincts enough
when you make your straight or flush. Thus, you call a
little, and win a bundle when you do hit. This is
different from pot odds in that pot odds are normally
used to gauge if calling off a large chunk of chips is
mathematically correct. Here it’s all about playing on
the weaknesses of opponents.
So what’s the bottom line through
all of this? In a
Texas Hold
'em poker tournament situation, pot odds are
weak basis for making calls. You always want to be
betting and laying odds for suckers to take, not be
the sucker and hemorrhage chips by calling and calling
and calling. Be the aggressor and make the power
plays, and make sure you have plenty of chips to
demolish other players with the nuts. Remember that
above all else, poker is a game about playing people
and making them do what you need them to. Numbers
can’t be changed, people can. So beat the people and
quit bitching about the numbers. You DON’T NEED the
odds to win.
By Matt Favreau
“Sweetness813”
Shark Veteran /
Shark Global Champ 2005
Join
the
Shark Poker Forum and discuss Pot Odds &
Texas Holdem Strategy.
|
