Exploiting Pot Control

Pot control is the term used to describe a system of play designed to keep the pot small. The purpose of the system is to preserve chips, reduce variance and the risk of losing your stack.

But in modern day tournament poker, pot control is being used to the extreme. The norm in most tournaments is for a mandatory check on the turn in order to reduce the action to just two streets of play.

With an excessive use of pot control in the game, here are some snippets of advice, taken from the Poker News on Betfair, to help you exploit pot controlling methods.

When a player is trying to control the size of the pot, it is invariably going to take place from in position. With this in mind, a great strategy to exploit pot control is to check raise either the flop or the turn.

There is a reason your opponent wants to keep the pot small; therefore, it is in your advantage to make it as big as possible. If you do decide to check-raise the turn, make it a large check-raise and always be ready to lead the river with another big bet.

Another way to exploit someone you know is trying to pot control is to lead every street. This will be both confusing and uncomfortable for the pot controller.

Lastly, a line that you could use is to check both the flop and the turn, and then come in with a large check-raise on the river.

So, there you have it, three strategies for exploiting players who seem content to deploy a pot controlling system.

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