Players prefer to play more straightforwardly in multiway pots than in shorthanded pots. You can take use of this information. When you hold a medium strong hand, placing a lesser bet than usual can help you acquire value from weaker hands, gain information, and control the pot to your advantage.
Assume you’re in a 6-handed $1-$2 game with $200 effective stacks. A loose-passive player opens under the pistol for $7, a solid player on the button calls, and a tight player in the small blind calls. You’re in the big blind with J♠T♠.
Against tighter opponents, consider a reraise squeeze. If you’re up against a very formidable opponent, you might consider folding. But you’re comfortable calling here, despite the fact that the preflop pot is a bit small for a hand capable of flop dominating top pairs.
The flop is J♥ 8♣ 3♠. The little blind checks, and the action is all on you.
This is an excellent location for an underbet. Your hand isn’t strong enough to commit. At the same time, you are vulnerable to overcards, so handing three opponents a free card is risky.
The pot is $28. Betting $9 or $11 accomplishes the same goals as betting two-thirds of the pot, which is $19. You charge lesser hands to continue (you may receive calls from weaker jacks, pocket tens or nines, ace-eight, straight draws, and overcards), and you learn. Because multiway pots contain purer information, you can obtain reliable information at a lower cost.
The smaller bet also helps you in a variety of ways. You keep the pot small with a hand that prefers to play in a small or medium size. Compare the two lines. If you bet $9 on the flop and receive one caller, the pot will be $46 on the turn, with $184 behind.
You can place another bet on the turn while staying away from your raised hand. You can also call a bet on the turn and fold to a large bet on the river if you believe you are losing. If you bet the entire pot on the flop and only receive one caller, the pot is $84 with $165 behind. Your next betting decision is a commitment one.
Another advantage of the little bet is that you keep the initiative and avoid having to call a larger bet. If you check the flip and the button bets two-thirds or the entire pot, you’re back in the same dilemma, but it’s worse because he has initiative and his range is unclear. He might be betting a powerful hand like ace-jack or a set, semibluffing with a draw with good equity, or simply bluffing. On the turn and river, all you can do is guess.
If your bet is raised on the flop, you can often fold. On a dry flop, you bet into three players and raise before the flop. That is a display of strength, thus anyone who raises is certainly strong.
To balance your range for making this play, you can also utilize this line to set up bluffs. For instance, if you were on the button with a hand like T♣ 7♣ and three players checked, you may make a tiny bet with the intention of maintaining your bluff on subsequent streets. You can also underbet with monster hands to keep things in balance.
Underbetting can be a stealthy weapon in multiway pots.
