Poker Math That Matters

Chunking
121
A fascinating thing about a no-limit game is how the pot grows
exponentially. Your preflop wager may only be three big blinds.
However, by the river, a pot-size bet may be for 60 big blinds.
Beginning players often slowplay a big hand on the flop and/or
turn only to discover they now have a tiny pot on the river and a
bunch of money behind. Out of desperation to get paid off with
their big hand, they often shove all the money in the middle,
making a massive overbet. Learning how to chunk your stack in
order to comfortably get all-in is a very important no-limit skill.
It's betting with purpose. This math is a little different than what
we've covered so far as it's not counting combinations or
estimating equity. We're simply figuring out how to divide our
stack up into chunks. Watch how this can work.
With a 100x stack, it's very simple. Let's pretend you're in a
$0.50/$1 NLHE game and have a 100x stack. You open with a
pot-size raise preflop ($3.50). Everyone else folds to the big
blind, who also has a 100x stack. He calls. You're heads up
against the big blind, and the pot is $7.50. You now have $96.50
left in your stack.
You bet pot on the flop, and he calls. The pot is now $22.50.
You now have $87 left in your stack.
You bet pot on the turn, and he calls. The pot is now $67.50.
You now have $66.50 left in your stack. This is all set for a potsize
bet on the river to get you all-in. If you make four pot-size
bets against one player, that will be the end of a 100x stack.
However, watch how one tiny detail can change things.
Let's say you open to $3 preflop instead of $3.50. Now the
preflop pot is only $6.50 instead of the $7.50 it was before.