Big pots are what defines a No-Limit Texas Hold’em player’s success. Sure there are lots of little small wins along the way that can boost your bankroll, but it’s the big pots that will make or break your bankroll. That’s why you need to know how to both build big pots and play them in Hold’em. Here is a look at how to accomplish this so you can properly play big pots and earn lots of money while doing so.
Building a Big Pot
If the pot is $2 and you’re betting $60 into it, you’re building a pot the wrong way. After all, if you’re holding pocket queens, your opponent only needs to have pocket kings or aces one out of 30 times to make this a bad play. But betting $60 into a $60 pot is a lot smarter because you’re only contributing half of the pot. When building a pot, make sure to keep the pot size in mind, and make measured bets that will increase the pot over each street.
When to build Big Pots
The obvious time to build big pots is when you have a big hand and think you’ve got one or more players that will call your bets. Of course, you can also build bigger pots when you’re looking to draw another player into a bluff or force them to call with poor odds. In the case of a bluff, you could bet $30 into a $30 pot and scare off a tight player who’s been checking and calling on every street. As far as forcing a player to call with poor odds, if the pot was $60 and you made a $25 wager, this is enough to give the person calling bad pot odds. However, it’s not enough to force an automatic fold.
