How To Control The Pot Size & Disguise Your Play | Poker Tactics

The cash floating around cash games means everybody’s a little crazy and you need to switch up your game. There are a couple of simple things that mean you can limit how much you’re risking and what you’re exposing yourself to.

Control yourself, protect your stack. If your hand isn’t very strong then check and call rather than raise and bet. This isn’t always the place to raise with the hopes of forcing your opponents out of the game. Everyone’s looking after their money so they’ll fold if the risks get too great or they’ll re-raise you if they’re feeling confident. Play to eke out value from other players when your hands are decent by judging their play and adjusting accordingly.

Representing your hand against opponents who are capable of guessing what you’ve got and guessing what you think they’ve got requires a master of disguise. Limping until you’re late in the game and then raising disguises a good hand to drag out some value from the rest of the players. Playing small pairs the same way represents a set and might fool some of the more trigger-happy players. Check-raising on the turn will throw a thinking opponent into turmoil and force many better hands to fold, leaving you with the pot.

Watch for other players trying to control the pot: you can re-raise them out of their comfort zone and force them to fold, taking the pot.