That's what I inevitably hear when I'm playing a tournament and I fire chips into a 'dry' side pot.
I sincerely believe that each situation where one player is all-in and others are still active is different and should be treated on it's own merit.
But I am certainly not a player who believes, as the vast majority of recreational players do, that when in a tournament if one player is all-in in a multi-way hand that the players who still have chips should ALWAYS check it down.
It really does depend, and quite often there is great merit to blasting away.
Here are the reasons players give for always checking it down.
1 - One less player in the tournament means you are that much closer to the money.
2 - You could make me fold the winning hand.
3 - If we are on the bubble, either to make the money or a big pay jump, you are costing yourself $.
I can not only refute every one of these answers, I can actually see these 'reasons' as great arguments for blasting away into that 'dry' side pot.
1 - CLOSER TO THE MONEY
This is probably the weakest argument for not betting into a side pot, especially if we are well away from the money, especially if there are a ton of players in the tournament.
When deciding whether or not if I should bet to try to get my opponent to fold when another player is all in, the first thing I ask myself is "Am I ahead the all in players range?" (In other words, what hands does the all-in player have versus what hands do I have) If my hands are overall stronger, then I will very likely bet; that I may miss out on getting 'one player closer to the money' is a very minor concern when there are a gang of players between me and a cash. I'd rather have the chips.
2 - BUT I FOLDED A WINNER!
Yes, I can make you fold the winning hand, in poker, imagine that! This reason is the very pinnacle of level 1 thinking, the recreational player who pretty much only thinks of the cards that he has.
This actually gives me another reason to bet -
If there's any chance I am ahead of the all-in player then I will jump at the chance to get the player who still has chips to lay his hand down, especially if I know he will be tilted by it.
I never try to tilt players by behaving badly either by word or action, but I do seek to tilt them by my style of play. I strive to be the guy who never wants to fold his big blind and who will 3 bet from the cutoff and button and the blinds with a good amount of hands other than premiums, among many other exasperating and aggravating playing tendencies.
If I think I can get you off of hands often enough I'm going to go out of my way to get into pots with you. If I think you are an emotional player, I'm going to go out of my way to get into pots with you. If I know you are dying to cash... well, you get the idea.
3 - BUBBLE TIME
This is the strongest argument for everyone to silently collude. But the way I see it, quite often I can turn this argument on it's head.
Whenever I find myself lucky enough to be deep in chips on the bubble (in the money/pay jump/final table) of a tournament, I absolutely 100% want to PROLONG the bubble as much as I possibly can. When you have a big stack the bubble is by far the best and easiest time there is in tournament poker to easily accumulate chips with little or no risk. Why in a million years would I ever want that to end?
Now if I find myself on the nub, yes I am going to want to check it down with another player all in - but if a big stack carves out chips and gets me off of my middle pair and all he has is king high, I have zero right to be irritated with him. I would do exactly the same thing.
In fact, I have - even knowing that I was likely behind the range of the all in player. Giving up a small amount of chips is well worth it to prolong the period of time that I can pillage away to my hearts content.
Bottom Line - to fire or not to fire at a dry side pot - it depends. And it depends ENTIRELY on what is in my best interest. Poker is selfish that way.
So that's really my thoughts on this. I'd love to hear what you all think! There's a gazillion ways to play this game - a few are entirely incorrect, but most have at least some merit and good arguments to be made on their behalf.
