Controlling Pot Size In Limit Hold 'Em - A Tip From Mike Caro

I received a few poker books for Xmas this year, and in one of them, Championship Hold 'Em, TJ Cloutier and Tom McEvoy pass on a good tip from Mike Caro regarding managing pot size and effective pot odds in limit hold 'em. Most of us who are playing in a limit hold 'em cash game and wake up with AA or KK in one of the blinds would raise and reraise pre-flop no matter how many people had entered the pot in front of us. However, Caro thinks this is not always the best play. Caro says that if several people are in the pot already, your raise/reraise is not going to drive any of them out, because the pot odds for a call will be so high that a call is really mandatory with any two cards. Once the flop comes, they will also be forced to call a flop bet with any piece of the board or any kind of draw, again because they are getting such a huge price. In addition, if several people are seeing a flop, there is a very good chance that at least one of the Aces or Kings is already out of the deck, leaving you with only one card to catch to make your hand a big favorite. Caro advises flat-calling pre-flop and then betting out on the flop to get a good idea of where you stand in the hand, unless the flop is very threatening to your hand, for example 3 cards of a suit you don't hold or three connecting cards like 7-8-10. With a big pair and several people in the pot you cannot expect your hand to hold up very often without improving, and if you have provided your opponents with significant pot odds to call with their draws the chances of your hand holding up are small indeed. The flip side of this is that if you do reraise pre-flop, flop a monster, and bet it, opponents who are paying any attention at all will have to put you on a monster hand and most of them should drop out. Yes, you have made more money in the sense that you built a bigger pot pre-flop, but you have lost the ability to disguise your hand and possibly make even more money by check-raising on later streets. I have always been one to flat-call raises in the blinds with JJ, QQ, and even AK, as I have always felt that the best way to make money on those hands when out of position is through the check-raise, and I think I'm gonna add KK and AA to the list.