Pot-committed is a term most often associated with no-limit games, and particularly tournaments. It occurs when the pot is big enough to be offering you such great odds that you should almost always call-even if you believe that you are behind in the hand.
For example, let's say you are playing in a no-limit hold 'em tournament, and piled on the felt in front of you is 24,000 in tournament chips. The blinds are currently at 1,000-2,000. The table chip leader, a very loose-aggressive player sitting to your right, opens the pot from late position by raising to 6,000. You're on the button with a good hand, say a pair of eights, and so you re-raise another 6,000 in an attempt to isolate the chip leader and play heads-up against him. The action folds back to said chip leader, who shoves another 12,000, just enough to put you all in.
The pot now sits at 33,000, so even though it would cost all your remaining chips to call here, you would be getting just under 3-to-1 odds on your money, or 2.75-to-1 to be more precise. There aren't many situations where you would be more than a 3-to-1 dog to win-pair over pair would be one example, or if you are dominated. Since we're talking about a very loose-aggressive opponent who could be raising with god-knows-what, you would probably want to call here. In large part because of the chips you've already tossed into the middle of the table during this hand, you're virtually married to this pot.
There's another reason why you would consider yourself pot-committed in this particular spot. If you fold, you will be short-stacked with only 12,000-just enough to play four orbits before you get blinded off. Being short-stacked is a massive disadvantage that leaves you with no real power, and very few choices, except to cross your fingers and hope to get lucky very soon. But if you call and win this pot your chip stack, along with your chances of doing well in the tournament, gets much more robust. This is why short stacks in a tourney often do better when they either raise a little bit (so they can get away from it easily), or just push all in (because a big raise will make them pot-committed anyway.)
Anytime the pot is laying you 2-to-1 odds or better, you may already be pot-committed and that should factor into your decision about whether to call or fold. Something else to keep in mind is that the idea of being pot-committed is usually much more relevant before the flop. At least before the flop your cards are always live, as opposed to later in the hand when you could be drawing dead, or very nearly dead.
You also need to be aware of situations in which your opponents will be pot-committed. For example, you shouldn't try to bluff a likely pot-committed opponent, because your chances of pushing him out are slim-to-none. By the same token, if you are drawing against an opponent who is married to the pot, you know that he will almost certainly pay you off if you do hit your hand.
More often than not, being pot-committed either means that you are short-stacked or that you have misplayed your hand, so it's not generally a desirable place to be. But when you do find yourself betrothed to the pot, you must be able to recognize the opportunity that's in front of you and act accordingly. Your tournament life could depend on it.
Barbara Connors is a sucker for classic old movies, science fiction, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Her life's ambition is to figure out the unusual behavior patterns of that unique breed of humans who call themselves poker players. Contact her at fyreflye222@yahoo.com.
