One topic that is vital to your success in poker, and in Sit & Go’s in particular, is pot-commitment. All forms of poker revolve around not only a deck of cards but odds and probability. For example, most players know that a pair versus two overcards is approximately a coinflip, with both hands having around 50% equity. But even when a strong hand is all-in against a weak hand the weak hand will have some equity, and if the price is right it may be correct to play. For example, a low pair against Aces may win only 18-19% of the time, but with 5-to-1 pot odds it would still be correct to call.
Similarly, if you have most of your stack posted in the big blind you would usually be correct to call with any two cards, for example with 2-3 offsuit you would still have 28.5% equity against the top 15% of hands.
Using such principles it is possible to come up with general rules for situations in which you will have to call a bet or raise no matter what, because of a combination of hand ranges and pot odds, and this is what is referred to as being pot-committed. If you have more than third of your stack posted in the big blind you should usually call all-in with any two cards, since you will be getting such good pot odds. Also, if you raise and are reraised all-in you will definitely be pot-committed if you are getting better than 3-to-1 and should often still call getting 2-to-1 depending on the situation.
Adapting for Sit & Go’s
Pot-commitment in Sit & Go’s is slightly more complicated because of ICM considerations (read some other Raise Your Game articles to learn more about ICM), where pot odds will seem more attractive than they actually are because the benefit of winning extra chips is not as great as the harm of losing the same amount. But the basic principles still apply, and when getting very attractive odds you will still need to call. However, in marginal spots or extreme situations like being on the bubble with high blinds you may want to consider other factors too. For instance, if someone is about to blind out before you or will be forced all-in if you fold, pot odds may become irrelevant.
Avoiding being pot-committed
Situations in which you find yourself pot-committed owing to pot odds are fairly easy to spot and are mostly unavoidable – the most obvious example is when you’ve lost most of your stack in a big pot and are in the big blind the next hand. But one of the keys to playing successful poker is thinking ahead and not putting yourself in awkward situations unnecessarily, such as pot-committing yourself when you could have avoided it. This is particularly important in Sit & Go’s where the stacks are always short and you can make the money a good percentage of the time purely by avoiding trouble.
In most situations the idea of avoiding pot-commitment relates only to high-blind play, as it’s practically inevitable when you have a short stack. If you only have ten big blinds and make a standard raise to three big blinds you will usually have to call a reraise as you’ll be getting such good pot odds to call. That’s why shoving is preferable as you may force some hands to fold or avoid a tricky decision if you have a hand like a bad Ace. Similarly if you get called the pot will now be so big that you can only really go all-in or check on the flop, again putting yourself in a bad spot that could see you bubbling the money.
For this reason you should only be making smaller raises when you have a bigger stack, and raising less. So with 15 big blinds you can raise to 2.5BBs and easily fold to shoves if you have a weak hand, and can continuation-bet and fold if you are called and miss the flop. Similarly, you are less pot-committed to reraises with this bet size – now if someone shoves for ten big blinds you can fold your bad Ace.
Bigger stacks
When you do have a big enough stack to make small raises, you should also consider the other stack sizes behind you, as well as how to play your hands in response to them. For example, when all players behind you have ten big blinds or less you are better off just shoving or folding yourself, but if there is one stack of 25 big blinds and some short stacks you should make a small raise. Similarly, if the short stacks are very low they are easy to play against, as you will automatically be pot-committed, but try to avoid putting yourself in tough situations. So, if you have 7-7 on the button against two 15BB stacks and aren’t comfortable raise/calling then you might be better off shoving yourself first.
Bubble changes
The typical Sit & Go format pays three players on a 50%/30%/20% basis, and as a result play around the bubble is absolutely crucial. There are some fascinating situations that arise relating to pot-commitment at this stage and we are going to conclude this series by looking at a few of them.
We have talked previously about push/fold strategies, and how you need a stack of at least 5BB to have any form of fold equity, which is of course related to the pot odds that the big blind will be getting when you shove all-in. Shoving very wide with this stack size when the blinds are about to hit you is a good strategy. Moving all-in with any Ace, any King, any suited connectors or collection of Broadway cards can help you avoid ending up in an awkward situation in the big blind where you maybe have just 3-4BB behind with a mediocre hand and aren’t sure whether you are pot-committed or not.
Pot-commitment isn't binding
Pot odds sometimes go out the window in favour of payout considerations when play is on the bubble. For example, if you are in the big blind with 1,800 chips and post 600 of them you would usually be pot-committed, but if there if a player with only 200 chips to your left you would have to fold most hands. The obvious reason is that this player is very likely to bubble in the next hand or two, guaranteeing you third place and putting you in the money.
You can also exploit this if you are the big stack, so in the same example it would probably be correct to shove literally any two cards against the player with 1,800 chips, even though in more normal situations it would be a bad play with your weaker hands as they’d be forced to call.
For this reason you can also have fold equity on the bubble with a stack as low as 3.5BB if it’s enough to threaten most of a player’s stack when everyone is near even. Players should consider not bubbling to be more important than pot odds, so bear in mind which players understand this and/or are very tight and attack them. Remember that in Sit & Go’s pot-commitment is an important consideration, but must be balanced with other concepts at all times.