Pot control is for pussies? A misunderstood concept!?
I have been reading a lot of forum entries and as I am hardly ever on 2+2 I found reading some of their HH analysis quite funny. One concept I found is so often misused and misunderstood is pot control. Sure I control the pot with checking my 66 on the turn OOP on a AK3r board after my c/bet was called (all hypothetically) but why check when I have TPTK on non-scary board? Reads are very important and I might check good hands against aggressive opponents who have show some kind of strength but basically betting a good hand is way better in shorthanded games.
This was one of the hands in question:
UTG ($397.70)
Button ($201.35)
Hero ($195)
BB ($150)
Preflop: Hero is SB with :kc: :ac:
2 folds, Hero raises to $8, BB calls $6.
Flop: ($16) :3s: :Ad: :jc: (2 players)
Hero bets $11, BB calls $11.
Turn: ($38) :3d: (2 players)
Hero bets $29, BB raises to $58,
I couldn’t believe the amount of people advocating a check turn here. Maybe I’m too aggressive but this IMHO is not a good example of checking the turn for pot control.
A search couldn’t find any meaningful discussion about the concept of “pot control”. I believe that weak players use this concept far too often as an excuse of not being able to play postflop.
Re: Pot control is for pussies? A misunderstood concept!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by silu_nz
One concept I found is so often misused and misunderstood is pot control.
Thank you. I rant about this in my operation because i completely agree.
Pot control is really about the value of your hand. In this AK hand, he probably has three streets of value (meaning that if you three barrel you'd get called by a good amount of worse hands), so he definitely shouldn't be checking the turn (although once he gets minraised he's probably beat).
The places where you want to check the turn for pot control is when you're hand has 2 streets of value or he'll call with a lot of hands on the turn but not the river (example: a draw heavy board). A lot of people just overuse pot control because frankly, they are pussies and don't want to play a big pot with one pair or have to call down aggression.
I think the reason that pot control is understood is because don't understand why they are doing it, they think that they are controlling the pot for the sake of controlling it, and not because controlling it will maximize your value.
Also, just wanted to add that pot control also has to do with building a pot. Like c/r a little bigger with a set so you can get the opponent commited or leading a flop because you think someone will raise you with a weaker hand and bloat the pot out of control.
Re: Pot control is for pussies? A misunderstood concept!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Massimo
Quote:
Originally Posted by silu_nz
One concept I found is so often misused and misunderstood is pot control.
The places where you want to check the turn for pot control is when you're hand has 2 streets of value or he'll call with a lot of hands on the turn but not the river (example: a draw heavy board).
I use pot control with top pair (and sometimes other stuff) is because I feel he'll call with a lot of hands on the flop and the river but not the turn.. There's a world of difference between three barrells and two intermittent ones - the latter is very easily interpreted by poor TAGs as "cbet, give up, bluff" so regularly that it's worth it.. Or have I totally misunderstood or am I not seeing the bigger picture?
Re: Pot control is for pussies? A misunderstood concept!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ash256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Massimo
Quote:
Originally Posted by silu_nz
One concept I found is so often misused and misunderstood is pot control.
The places where you want to check the turn for pot control is when you're hand has 2 streets of value or he'll call with a lot of hands on the turn but not the river (example: a draw heavy board).
I use pot control with top pair (and sometimes other stuff) is because I feel he'll call with a lot of hands on the flop and the river but not the turn.. There's a world of difference between three barrells and two intermittent ones - the latter is very easily interpreted by poor TAGs as "cbet, give up, bluff" so regularly that it's worth it.. Or have I totally misunderstood or am I not seeing the bigger picture?
You seem to get it. I just realized i accidentally miswrote something...
Quote:
The places where you want to check the turn for pot control is when you're hand has 2 streets of value and/or the opponent likes calling rivers more than turns.
that's what it should say. The thing is, it's just usually not the case that someone is like that.
Re: Pot control is for pussies? A misunderstood concept!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Massimo
Quote:
The places where you want to check the turn for pot control is when you're hand has 2 streets of value and/or the opponent likes calling rivers more than turns.
that's what it should say. The thing is, it's just usually not the case that someone is like that.
I'm like that actually and so are a lot of 200NL regulars in my experience. The turn check behind, river bet looks so bluffy that a lot of medium pair hands that would have folded to a second barrel look you up.
