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Crushing Multiway Pots in 2023

3,019 Views on 3/12/23

How to crush multiway pots in 2023

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Playing in multiway pots is where a great deal of new players leak money. These players learn some strategy and what hands to play but fail to develop their sense of danger that is always present when playing post-flop against two or more players.

The dynamics are different to the point where heads-up pots and multiway pots are almost a completely different game.

For this reason, you must pay attention to a few points that will help you stay out of trouble


Bets into More Than One Player Indicate Strength.

It sounds obvious when you think about it but it’s surprisingly common for players to ignore the strength of a bet into two or more players. Even more so when the board is wet.

In a heads up pot, if you call in position and face a continuation bet on an ace high dry rainbow flop you can expect to face a bet the vast majority of the time. However, if you are one of three callers and the pre flop raiser bets you can be 99% certain that they have an ace at least.

It is highly important not to leak money by calling small bets in this situation time after time. These all add up and become a massive drain on your win rate.

In this situation folding a weak second pair type hand is perfectly ok with players still to act after you. The fact that villain bet into more than one player here is a much more important factor than folding too frequently according to GTO/balanced strategy.


Pot Odds Is Not the Whole Story


When you are facing an open with multiple callers, it is tempting to think that the attractive pot odds give you a license to call all kinds of weak holdings. To some extent this is true, but there is a catch.

To make a really weak hand a profitable call it must be played to almost perfection post flop. Many times you will see a hand reviewed by a very good player and the call pre flop is noted as standard.

What the annotator doesn’t usually say is that it’s really tough to make a profit with the hand and you will almost certainly lose money unless you know what you are doing when the pot gets big.

So often when playing a weak range you will end up with a middling showdown value and aren’t quite sure how much pressure you can face before laying it down. Hands that make the effective nuts are great choices.

Even a hand such as J2s when you are closing the action in a 4-5 way pot is fine. You can make a strong five card hand and also have a high card. The question is how far can you go with just a pair of jacks?



Betting For Protection


With more than one other player in the pot it is important to protect your equity. This means leading out if you flop a strong hand instead of risking a free card coming off after it checks around.

When taking this line it is even more important to be wary when facing aggression back at you. If an aware opponent sees you showing strength and doesn’t seem put off then alarm bells should be going off.

Protect your equity with a strong but maybe vulnerable hand, but don’t get tied to it if another reg wants to turn it up a level.


Bluffing


Bluffing is obviously a lot more dangerous in a multiway pot, particularly at micro stakes where people don’t like to fold in general.

The more players in the hand, the more likely that somebody has a decent holding. For this reason, you must be a lot more choosy over picking your spots.

Of course, there are plenty of players who can read hands and will make a tight lay down, but you really must be sure that you’re picking your spots correctly.

In a four way or more pot, it is probably advisable to refrain from bluffing at all as part of your standard strategy.



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At PokerVIP we pride ourselves in recruiting top poker talent from around the World to help our users improve their game. With over 350 original training videos from over 30 renowned poker coaches, PokerVIP is one of the best resources ... Read More

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