Just like people are shy about stealing the blinds, a lot of players are uncomfortable with small pots. They'll overbet the pot or, worse, slow play their hand in an effort to get money on the table. This is a recipe for losing.

Doyle Brunson has said the he liked to win small pots because he could then use other people's money to finance making big bets into big pots with drawing hands. Whatever your reason, poker is all about winning money -- so why not win the money that's on the table?

Whatever you do, don't try to create a "good pot". Overbetting the pot, to try to get more money in there, only puts more of your stack at risk than you need to. Underbetting, to slow play your hand and get your opponents to make a number of smaller bets, is even worse, because it gives your opponents chances to draw the winning card.

If you see a small pot out there, and you think you lead current hands but don't have the nuts, then bet enough to get your opponents out of the pot. Don't go all in, just make a good-sized bets (3x the pot often works, so long as it's no more than about 10% of your stack). And take home a reasonable amount of money.