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Pooling is a phenomenon that often occurs at low stakes fulltilt poker games, but it occurs the most often in low stakes fixed limit games. Many good players have experienced this and probably became very frustrated by it.

A player picks up Aces under the gun at a $2-$4 Limit Hold Em game and raises out of the UTG position. Instead of the field narrowing, something strange happens. The player to his left snap calls. The player two to his left also calls. Then the player three to his left calls as well. Not only does the three players directly to his left call, the whole table calls! They cannot all possibly have a good enough hand, could they?

While some players may have a decent hand, most probably have very bad hands. This is the phenomenon of pooling.

After the raise, there is $7 in the pot, giving the player under the gun +1 almost 2-1 on a call. Therefore, he calls. After that call, there is $11 in the pot, so the next player has almost 3-1 odds to a call and calls. With every call, the odds get better and better for the next player to make a call. Thus, nobody folds.

Now come back to the player with Aces. What is he supposed to do on the flop? Even if the flop comes 10-8-5, can his hand still even be good? And if it is, everyone is still probably going to call. How does one defend against pooling?

How to Play Against Poolers

Playing against poolers on FullTiltPoker.net can be very frustrating. The good player will always be entering with what is most likely the best hand, but usually it is not going to hold up until the end. Players are going to call him down with, often hitting a weird 2-pair or an unlikely straight.

The way to combat this is slow down with playing the high cards and high pairs and go back to playing hands with more implied odds. Implied odds disappear in Limit Hold Em when a player is playing against one other person in a pot, but if the whole table is calling, implied odds reappear. Players must then start to raise with suited connectors and small pairs. After the whole table calls, the player will then be able to either:

A) Fold when he totally misses the flop or,

B) Value bet the table every street and win a huge pot when the player flops a set or better.
Aces and Kings do not play well against 9 players, so slow down with them and even be willing to fold quickly post flop when the Ace or Kings do not improve when in a hand where pooling has occurred. If a player holds Aces under the gun and the table is inclined to pool, the UTG player may be better off limping with the intentions of three-betting or capping when action comes back around.