subject: "Massaging" The Pot In No Limit Hold'em [print this page] One chunk or more?- The ultimate goal in any no limit hold'em game, especially a deep stacked cash game, is to win stacks from your opponents; little wins can add up too, but the majority of players are looking to get on the right side of a big all-in confrontation. Most of the time, though, you won't be able to accomplish this by simply shoving your chips in the middle preflop with aces and expecting to be called; you have to massage the pot in a way that allows you to accrue that stack incrementally instead of in one massive chunk. Solid, tricky professionals will entice you into committing your stack by making callable bets to the river, then jamming into you, with a pot built up so high by this point that you're almost compelled to call due to the pot odds. Massaging the pot is a much better poker alternative to the big bet play.
How to properly manipulate- The biggest tool you have in your arsenal for manipulation is giving your opponent the impression that he's in control. To do this, manipulate your bet sizes to where your opponent will make the final move for the pot; you bet 35% of his stack, and he elects to shove. This assures that he will make the final decision in the hand (assuming your massaging the pot with a monster, of course, as you then have no decision but to call) and allows you to work the pot up to a point where he thinks his all-in has some reasonable chance of working; betting 60% of his stack is much more likely to lock his hand selection into only hands he feels are strong enough for you to auto-call his all-in, as you'll be priced in most anything he bets at that point.
1/1/2/4 Rule- One way of properly measuring out your bets through the hand is to simply double your bet from start to finish, as it will properly lock your opponent into calling with reasonable hands based purely on the pot odds. For example, you open for $8 in a $1/$2 game with AA, and get flatted by the BB with a $150 stack. On any flop, you'll lead out $8 into the $17 pot, a almost half pot bet that your opponent will call with a decent array of hands, depending on the board. On the turn, you double to $16 into a $33 pot, again keeping the price at almost exactly half pot, and again enticing a call. On the river, you bet $32 into $65, and if he calls, you manage to extract $64 out of your opponent (assuming your aces stay best) and you give your opponent ample room to hang himself over the course of the hand with a check-raise.
