In the second free hand anaylsis video where Dn raises UTG with J9 hearts and Wasika calls with K 10 spades

The flop comes 6 8 10.

DN checks, Wasika bets a small ball amount into the pot, I think 15 into a pot of 25.

Wasika says he wants to keep the bet small enough that if he gets raised he's not committed. Okay I see that.

DN then says his pot odds of calling 15 to win 40 so he definately is going to call.

Now I undestand the small ball philosophy of pot control, chip preservation, etc.

But didn't Wasika place his pot totally at risk by giving DN perfect pot odds to call?

Wouldn't this be a situation where small ball is showing a pure defensive strength, but almost no offensive strength?

DN was going to call a bigger raise I understand, but when he said definately going to call my first thought was small ball made it much easier for the other players to chase draws.

If Paul knew what DN had, a draw, he could make him pay and or give him bad odds to call.


I understand that as a general strategy the small ball has great strengths, but on a draw heavy board, don't you want to abandon small ball and price people out of pots?

The way that Daniel plays, he still likes to keep the pot small. Also, he's not afraid to let people draw, as long as they're paying a reasonable price to do it. If he feels that the other player misses his draw, and he still has the best hand at the river, Daniel usually checks to induce a bluff or just calls when he's in position.

Daniel's a freak. Just sayin'