Why check down?

As I cover some of the events here at the WSOP, I see a lot of interesting plays and strategies. I'd love to be able to ask certain players why they made the play they did and what was going through their mind, but I am responsible for acting professionally and staying 'behind the scenes'. I don't want to interfere with or bug the players. In one of the early $1,500 NLHE events, I witnessed some players involved in multi-way pots where one person was all in. These instances I'm talking about are not in the money, or on the bubble, or deep at the final table. They are in the early stages of a tournament when we have tons of players left in the field.

The scenario occurs when the other players in the hand check it down until the river to try and eliminate the all-in opponent. When someone bets and then ends up doubling up the short stack, the others players that were in the hand and folded seem to be upset with the player that bet them out. Claiming "I would have won." or "Way to bet us out and then double him up." and so on. What I don't think these players understand is that when there are so many players remaining in the field, it is more advantageous to allow yourself a better chance of winning the hand than eliminating the all-in player. If you can bet out to get heads up with the all in player, you only have to best his hand. Whereas when you keep everyone in, you are slimming your chances of winning the entire pot, even if it is just checked down. So with a small bet, you can almost always thin the field and increase your odds in the hand. If everyone folds and you still lose to the all-in player, you only lost what you would have lost if you kept everyone in the hand and had checked it down.

If you do chose to bet and everyone folds and you lose, you'll often hear the comments start to fly at you. "Why'd you bet?" or "Why didn't you just check it down?" Even, "What a dumb bet that was?" This usually comes from people that want that player eliminated when it really doesn't matter at all. 2,000 players left compared to 2,001 isn't a big deal and shouldn't make a difference, but a lot of players swear that checking down is the only play that you should make. They say you should only bet with the nuts, or damn near close to it. I don't agree and I have been talking to some people around the WSOP and in Vegas that agree with my thoughts and believe those that check it down just don't get it. But I must stress that this is a completely different scenario than when you are on the bubble, in the money and approaching a pay jump, or at the final table. In all of these cases, eliminating one person often has great advantages.