Poker Lesson 36: Putting Yourself in Position to Win Large Pots

Winning a large pot is, like anything else that is fun and productive, is a group activity. To win the big pots you will need to play strong multi-way hands in multi-way pots. In Holdem this includes suited connectors and suited aces and in Omaha it means strong scooping hands. For those of you who are not Omaha Hi/Lo players, a scooping hand is the one that has the best chance to win both the high and low half of the pot. Winning big means that you will need to get money into the pot when you are drawing to the best hand and ejecting yourself out of the pot when you have a hand that is likely to turn out to be only the second-best hand.

You need to start building your pot while you are still drawing. If you wait until you have made your hand, it will be too late and chances are you will only get moderate returns on your hand.

Because you are betting on drawing hands the question comes down to how often you will win once all the cards are out. If you'll win 1/3 of the time and there are 5 people in the pot, then it is absolutely imperative that you get money into the pot while you are drawing. Even though you will lose most of these draws (in the above example 2/3 of the time you'll lose), when you do win the sheer size of the pot, it will be more than enough to make your losses worth the effort. The peripheral benefit of going for big pots is that you will pay less rakes.