Ever since a friend mentioned this poker faux pas to me a few months ago, I have been watching carefully for it. Here’s a good example, taken from an online tournament I was playing recently.

I held A-J suited on the button, an above-average hand to be sure, but nothing overwhelming either; against good players it’s a trouble hand because you’re almost sure to be outkicked if another Ace is in play, you’re a small underdog to most pairs, and you’re not that big a favourite when you are up against two other nonpaired cards. For example, A-J suited isn’t even 2/1 against 8-7 off suit, even though it looks so much better.

Because the button so often tries to steal, however, A-J suited looks pretty good – people will play with you with inferior hands. I had $1,900 in front of me, and raised the big blind’s $400 up to $1,200. The big blind moved in, I suppose thinking that there was a chance I could let the hand go, but with $2,600 already in the pot, it’s far from easy to get me to throw almost any hand away, I can tell you. The big blind had 2-4 suited.

If I had moved in, would the big blind have played? Calling with small pairs is one of the worst plays in poker, but because there was almost no chance I would fold, this was in essence what he was doing. Nonetheless, because he was a player I didn’t know, I shouldn’t have assumed he knew the meaning of ‘pot-committed’ and just moved my whole stack in.

If you have a hand where your raise does commit you to the pot, you might as well go ahead and move all-in with it. If you’re winning, you’ll win more, and if you’re losing, there’s a bigger chance that your opponent will fold.