Hi I'm new to live play and with all the excitement I lose track of the size of the pot. Anyone have some tips or short cuts on estimating the size of the pot without having to work the brain too hard?

Thanks.

Ask them to spread it. They will not count it. Not really more than that then remembering the action and estimating.

This is something that most new live players have trouble with.
It just takes practice. When your not it a hand keep up with the pot as it goes, until you get it

It's VERY easy. Just add up the bets each round. e.g. UTG raises to 20 and there are 3 callers, there's ~$60 in the pot on the flop.


Play a few sessions of live pot limit and you'll be an expert in no time.

spread pot and build an estimate?

Also go to b&m for game dynamics, rules ect.

^^^regarding my previous post....3 players to the flop, not 3 callers...


EDIT: also I hate when people ask to spread the pot. It's just lazy. You should know how big the pot is if you're involved in it. How do you even know how much to bet or call otherwise? Are you going to raise PF, then ask the dealer to spread the pot every round so you can figure it out?

Not too mention every time the dealer touches the pot, there is a risk of the pot getting smaller... Most rooms have procedures in place to limit how and how often the dealers touch chips/bills, they did not make and put the procedures in place for the fun of it...

this.

Excellent tip by a Newbie.
See who the preflop raiser is, see if he gets bet into.
See how much he bets relative to the pot, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 pot, etc.

Count the callers.

When you are not in pay attention.

Try this, not only is it fun, but it will also keep u focused on the game, not to mention it will help u catagorize players and there tendencies.

Pretend u are a commentator for a poker show on tv. It might go like this.....

Naboo, in first position looks at his cards and instamucks, (Sometimes, I will give a stranger some name that i make up to help me remember him, like word association)... folds around to the young Lag in seat 4 who limps in for two, seat five folds, seat six, a spew monkey donk makes his usual limp call, action now on the old Tag lady with the pink shirt, after some deliberation she raises it to 20, Oh my theres 24 in the pot now and it folds around to the woman with the big tits, did i say big tits, man those are nice, (snap back to reality) any way she folds the blinds folds, and the Lag in seat four insta calls, 45 in the pot now and spew monkey pushes all in with the remaining 40 thats in his stack, Pot now has about 80 Tag has 20 to call getting 4-1 pot odds. Well folks i expect Tag lady to push all in if she has what i think she has, but no, she just calls, wow im surprised maybe AK maybe JJ or 10 10, this is getting interesting, Young lag also calls. Well, three will see the flop with abut 120 in the pot....


Anyway u get the picture, to help me remember pot size i just use approximations and round up or down to help keep the math simple (Ie 3 times 15 plus the blinds =50 {I play 1-2})

Try it, its a hoot.

I know you play at MS. I wish they would make up their mind on the subject. I had a dealer a couple of weeks ago there actually move the pot around and make it harder to count, claiming they had no obligation to make the pot easier to count.

As for the OP, instead of watching the ball game or looking at the drink staff, just start practicing a count. Remember, it doesn't have to be 3 digit accurate, just close enough to bet properly. If you do this, you'll be ahead of 90% of your villains.

Wow

+1

Do not try to be exact when counting the pot. Instead, keep record of the players involved and the betting. If there are multiple preflop raises, it is easiest to analyze stack sizes than the pot itself.

I have lost track of the size of the pot a few times since coming to Vegas. The cocktail waitresses are usually to blame.

I have already gotten pretty good at looking at groups of 5 $5 dollar chips and counting the apparent number of groups. It is faster than actually counting the pot and it has wound up being accurate.

All of the advice about counting it as the money goes in, is, of course, preferable to having to estimate, but if you do lose count, try to break the pot down into groups of chips and count the number of groups. It has worked for me so far.

Pro Tip: Never, under any circumstances, call, bet into, or old ladies without the super nuts and then only on the river.