In any pot limit and no limit game, you should always be thinking about two things when you are involved in a hand – taking pots and building pots.

When your hand is vulnerable or your edge is small, you should be taking pots. In these cases, you don’t want any action. You just want to take what’s in the pot as fast as possible.

When you have it all locked up, or when you have the nut low and are drawing to the high hand as well, you should be building pots. These are the times you want as much action as you can get, and you need to do everything in your power to get it. <READMORE>

So, how does one go about taking pots? After all, if it was easy, we’d all be doing it. You can’t just make a big bet and assume everyone will fold right? Actually you can. The secret to taking pots is making it as hard as possible for your opponent to call.

Please burn that last sentence into your brain as we analyze it. Let’s start at the end with the word “call”. They can’t call unless you bet. In order for this thing to work you have to bet.

Alright, so you bet. Now you have to make it as hard as possible for your opponent(s) to call. In a pot limit game this usually means a pot sized bet or raise. Sometimes it means putting your whole stack into play.

Remember that you are making this play when you are sure you are ahead, but not by enough to make you want to see any more cards. By making a huge bet here you are putting as much pressure as possible on your opponent. Do they really want to gamble here for all their chips?

Building pots, on the other hand, is much less aggressive. If I have any aggressive players still to act behind me I will likely check and then flat call any bets. When building a pot you want to get more money into the pot sure, but you want to make it as easy as possible for your opponents to get their money in. Check and call or making small bets is the way to go here.

In both cases, the other critical thing to pay attention to is the texture of the table. If you are at a table of full-steam-ahead players who will call any and all bets and always bet and raise the full amount of the pot, then taking pots may be impossible. On the flip side, at a a table like this, building pots is easy. Any time I am sure my opponent(s) will call and I am holding the stone cold nuts, I will go for it and bet or raise the pot.

If, however, your table is full of cautious players, then the time is right for taking down a lot of small pots. At this kind of table building a big pot may be difficult, as your opponents may fold to even a small bet and are unlikely to bet themselves without holding the nuts.

Keep your eyes and ears open and vary your play between these two things and soon you will find yourself in the chips ;o)

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