The more players there are in a pot, the more variables you have to keep in mind, making the whole decision-making process that more difficult.
If you want to win more in such situations, you need a sound strategy you can always rely on to make the best decision based on the scenario you find yourself in.
Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. On this page, we’ll discuss the most important aspects and factors you should focus on and share with you some useful poker tips on how you can improve your game and win more in multiway pots.
1. UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF C-BETTING
Mastering the continuation bet is a big part of increasing your success in multiway pots. The best way to look at c-betting when going up against multiple players is to look at all of them as one, combined, stronger opponent.
With that in mind, you should minimize any aggression plays and tighten your bets so you can go up the opponent’s range if an opportunity comes up.
In line with this, there are also many reasons why you should always adopt a strategy of using smaller c-bets.
Most of these revolve around making late-game plays, namely when it comes to bluffing efficiency. A small continuation bet allows you to spread your stack more evenly going into the hand’s latter stages.
Think of it this way, if you always make large bets on the flop and turn, in most hands, you’ll be left with a significantly smaller stack to wager on the river.
Such a tactic makes bluffing extremely hard, as a small river bluff is unlikely to push anyone out of the game.
By planning ahead and making smart c-bets, you’ll have more opportunities for a stronger bluff that will result in more folds and better results overall.
2. REDUCE THE NUMBER OF YOUR BLUFFS
Staying on the topic of bluffing, when you find yourself in a multiway situation, don’t put a strong emphasis on this action unless you’re doing it with a solid plan to back it up.
This is because advanced poker strategy suggests that bluffing in multiway pots isn’t as nearly as useful as it is in direct heads up duels.
The reason behind this is simple – there are more players to go through.
If you’re a frequent bluffer, try to reduce this as much as you can, especially in hands with no equity. C-betting just for the sake of betting won’t get you anywhere.
In case you can’t resist going for a bluff play, try to bluff only with hands that have a likely chance to improve on what’s already your best hand.
Doing so will open up the opportunity to win the pot right on the spot by making your opponents fold their marginal hands.
3. PLAY TIGHTER WHEN DEFENDING BLINDS
Another significant tactical difference you should be mindful of when you find yourself in a multiway pot is that you should always continue with fewer hands than you would in a heads-up scenario.
Since there are more players involved, the burden is shared between several players, not just you.
With this in mind, always play as tight as you can when defending a bet. This is especially important if there are still some players to act after you.
Since you’ll be playing most multiway pots from the big blind position, this is something you should always keep in the back of your mind.
That said, you can play wide from this position as well, but not with poker hands that tend to struggle in multiway scenarios, so don’t try to push rigid plays that can only hurt you.
4. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR PREFLOP LEAD
Apart from finding yourself in the position to defend the big blind, you’ll also quite often be in a situation of having the preflop lead.
If you find yourself in such a spot, even against more experienced or aggressive players, be certain to make the most of it.
Be mindful of your equity and the perceived card ranges of your opponents.
However, you should still remember the prevalent tactic for playing multiway pots – as the number of players increases, you should decrease your betting frequency.
When you’re playing against one player, going with a wider c-bet can be a good decision. But, when up against several opponents, don’t go crazy with your continuation bet, as you shouldn’t expect too many folds from this position at the start.
5. BE EFFICIENT WITH FLOP BETS
When facing a bet in a game with a multiway pot, you should always consider several factors. Most importantly, this includes your position, the bettor’s position, and the bet’s size.
For example, if you’re in a bad position, the bettor is in an advantageous position, and the bet size is above-standard, you should play it as tight as possible.
Of course, as no two Texas Hold’em hands are the same, you’ll have to make tactical adjustments each time to be as efficient as possible with flop bets. Some of the most important variables you should always keep in mind are:
The number of uncapped ranges directly impacts your defending range.
The more players you have an advantageous position over, the more you should defend.
The lower the bet is, the more often you’ll need to defend.
As there are fewer players to act behind you, you should defend with more hands.
It may take you a little while to internalize all this, but once you do, you will find that you're doing much better in pots involving multiple opponents, and this list will become like second nature.
A QUICK SUMMARY
Multiway pots are exciting, highly-strategic, and very intricate. There are too many things to cover to go over in one multiway pot article entirely, but this page will set you on the right track.
Hopefully, you’ve learned some useful tactics you can employ the next time you find yourself in a tough multiway pot.
Make sure to remember the key points of every tip we shared with you above, and you’ll meet your next multiway pot ready and well-equipped with all of the necessary knowledge.
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