settec, we don't disagree. I was skipping a step here-- in the situations where I have seen people say they were "pot committed", it has almost always been to excuse betting in situations where they knew they were up against a monster hand. And at that point they are just gambling to suck out and using the large pot size to justify the gamble. In that circumstance, the specific procedure I set out is a good way to lead them to fold, which is almost certainly the correct decision.

But yes, of course, this is just a variant of what should be the standard range-and-expected value calculation when you decide to call a bet post-flop. People who routinely make that calculation before calling big bets post-flop, however, probably don't get themselves into the situation where they are using the rationalization that they are "pot committed".