Priced In

Can someone please explain to me the concept behind being "priced in." Is there a formula for it? I was playing last night and the guys kept saying you're priced in why not call. I usually beat these guys and have read a few books. We start out with $50 worth of chips with blinds at $1 and $2 that double every 15 minutes.

Thanks,
Dave

"Priced in" means your pot committed.
ie if theres £40 in the pot and you've only got to pay £3 to call, pretty much any hand is worth the call.
Once you've put so much in there's no point folding.

I'm sure someone round here can explain it better than me though!

One thing to watch out for though is if it is obvious you're drawing dead, the price will always be too high :P

Just think about it as pot odds, how often am I beating the villain? Considering what happened pre and post flop.

Say I figure I have a 5-1 shot of beating the villain, I think he possibly has top pair, but i recon 1 out of 5 times he is bluffing or has a worse hand than my second pair.

The pot is $10 and he bets just $1 on the river, its right to call, even if he bet upto $2, because I will win the $12 1 out of 5 times. Given that my hand reading is good.

However, it is a misguided concept that you should consider how much you have already invested in the pot - both pre and post flop. What is in the pot does no longer belong to you - you should forget how much you have put into it. Sklansky (sp?) talks about this in Doyles SS2. (He is a little more eloquent than me mind you! - Also I'm at work so havent got the time to be fiddling about)

If you have to call $4 into a $16 pot, then you're getting 4-1 on your money. What this means is if you win slightly more than 1 out of 4 times you call, you'll make money by calling.

"Priced in", is a term which respects the long term nature of poker. Your job at the table is to make positive expected value plays. If making a play makes you money long term, then it is correct to make it.

Stop folding for small bets if you think there's a chance you will win the hand that is greater than the percentage of the pot you have to call.

Thanks guys with the blind structures rising so quickly in this type of tournament I guess they thought I should be playing more hands. We play $20 buy in with unlimited re-buys for the first 45 minutes. I usually don't re-buy or even have the opportunity as I'm pretty tight playing roughly the top 20 hands. However last night there were only 5 players. I tried to open up a bit but over the four hours and three tournies we played the best I cuaght were; 99, 99, 22, and AJo. Pretty tough to be priced in with 94o, 83o. The guys started teasin saying I'm too tight etc.

Thanks again,

Dave

Pretty tough to be priced in with 94o, 83o. The guys started teasin saying I'm too tight etc.

You can be 'priced' in with these hands also, say your in the SB and get 3 callers with 2/1 blinds. Thats $9 in the pot already and you need to call $1 to see the flop, getting 9-1 thats a good price for ATC! (Hopefully the BB wont raise lol)

Thanks Pokermuzz, what's ATC mean?

ATC : any two cards....
to get into a pot $9 for $1 more(when you've alreday put in a $ for the SB) is well worth it. even with say 9-4 off you never know.
Some could be slowplaying A-A you hit 2 pair and stack them. NICE.

One time, before I understood poker, I folded for 5¢ on the river into a $4 pot. I had the winning hand.

A common scenario for tournaments is an all-in situation when you or the other person has a short enough stack. For example, say the blinds are 100/200, and the Button goes all-in with his last 400 and the SB folds. You are in the BB and need only call 200 when the pot contains 700. Only if you knew your opponent had a pocket pair higher than both your cards could you fold. Since his range is sure to include other hands, you should call with any 2 cards, even 23o, because the price is right and you will make money in the long run. Priced in is just another way of saying your pot odds are too good to fold.

Priced in = excuse someone gives for making what is usually a bad call.

that is exactly what they were doing, and then saying well I was priced in. You're priced in man you have to call. I just kept thinking this is crazy.

Being priced in is more of a cash game thing - if a call is EV+ you are always obliged to make it. In a tournament it's not that simple because each chip you lose is more valuable than each chip you win, and there will be occasions where you may be getting 10:1 to call but to do so would cripple your stack or knock you out altogther, and once you're out, you're out.

when others say you're priced in, most of the time they have no idea what they're talking about (in my experience).

they're loose players and they think that if they've posted their big blind they're priced in and they should be calling with 72o even somebody moves allin preflop. lol. bit of an exageration - but something along those lines.