Pot Size

Objectives

There are too many possibilities in no-limit Hold'em to say which goal you should pursue for every special case. But first, the objectives:

i) Make the pot as big as possible.

ii) Make the pot as small as possible.

iii) Win the pot without a showdown.

Of course these objectives can vary from street to street. Furthermore, goals might intersect in certain situations.

How to go about reaching these targets is different depending on the situation. Sometimes you choose a large bet size to make the pot large, sometimes to make the opponent fold. How to play and when will be explained in a special article on the different hand categories. Nevertheless, there are a few general principles that can be stated.

Basic Principles

There are few ground rules that you should follow. The following principles are ordered according to priority:

i) The stronger your hand, the bigger you want the pot to be.

ii) The better your position at the table, the bigger you want the pot to be.

iii) The worse your opponent is, the bigger you want the pot to be.

Point i) is far and away the most important. When you have the nuts your goal is always the same, namely, to take your opponent's entire stack. This doesn't change if you're playing against a good player in poor position.

Point ii) is important since with position you have a better chance to win the pot without a showdown than you do OOP.

Point iii) is also self-explanatory. The more your opponent is prepared to pay you off with bad hands, the more big pots you want to play against him.

Closing Words

It takes much experience to recognize what your goal should be in different situations. It's almost never certain how to act. You must examine the situation holistically since it depends on many factors like image, opposition, the board, your own hand, position etc. The basic concepts presented here will be encountered in future articles over and over again.