BET SIZING
Imagine you are playing poker. There are 7 opponents at the table. You are in an early position with AK and decide that you need to raise. The question arises before you: “How much to bet?”. Inexperienced players often make the wrong bet size or constantly change it. Such actions can end tragically.
BET SIZING is the size of the bet.
First of all, it should be noted that there are different types of bets: a bet to protect the hand, a value bet, or a bluff bet. Therefore, the size of the bet depends on why we are betting. You always need to understand the reason for the bet, you can’t just bet randomly. When you have made the decision to place a bet, the main thing to pay attention to is the size of the pot. The size of your bet depends on the size of the pot. In other words, betting 1$ when the pot is 10$ makes no sense. In this case, your opponents will call you, regardless of how weak their hands are. Or it is extremely inappropriate to bet
50$ into a 1$ pot.
TYPES OF BETS
1. VALUE BET
Let’s assume we have a very strong hand and we want to extract as much as possible from our opponent. If your opponent folds their hand to your bet, then this bet cannot be considered a value bet. With a winning combination, we do not want our opponent to fold their cards worse than ours. Therefore, betting a lot is not profitable – we will often not extract maximum value. But betting too little is also not good. Here, we need to find the “golden mean”. Where is it? It depends on the opponent – whether they are an aggressive player or not, how often they respond to bets on the streets, and other factors. It is also important to speculate on what hand your opponent might have, and think about what bet they will respond to, and on which they will fold their cards. However, always remember that if we let the opponent see the next street cheaply, their hand can improve. The most common bet size is typically in the range of 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot size.
2. PROTECTION/BLOCKER BET
A defense bet is usually used on draw-heavy flops. Here, it is advisable to increase the bet size up to the size of the pot. For example, if we bet 1/3 of the pot, the opponent will often find it profitable to call our bet, having favorable pot odds. If you suspect that your opponent has a draw, you need to either make them fold their cards, or make it expensive and not worth the odds for them to chase their draw.
3. BLUFF BET
If you don’t have a strong hand and decide to bluff, you need to understand that your hand has no showdown equity, and therefore you need to make your opponent fold their hand before the showdown. In this situation, the range of bet sizes is wide. You can make your opponent fold with a large bet or, conversely, with a bet of 1/2 of the pot, pretending to have a strong hand that you want to extract value from your opponent. It is always essential to understand the type of opponent sitting across from you. Anticipate their response to your actions in advance, and also understand what reputation you have at the table.
SIZES OF BETS
1. PREFLOP RAISE
On one hand, it is recommended to always make the same bet when opening the pre-flop trading with a raise in Texas Hold’em. The standard is 3 BB. However, there are cases when it is possible to deviate slightly from this rule. For example, from an early position, some prefer to open not with 3 BB, but with 4 BB to prevent gathering many opponents in the pot. Also, during blind steals, for instance, from the button, some bet more, while others, on the contrary, bet less. It should be noted that in loose play, for example, it is more advantageous to open with, let’s say, 2.5 BB, and in a tighter game, conversely, with 4 BB. If there were limpers before you, you should add 1 BB for each of them to your bet.
2. POSTFLOP BET OF 2/3 OF THE POT
This is a standard continuation bet after you have been the aggressor pre-flop. In this case, you may or may not hit the flop, but the bet size is often the same to prevent your opponent from “reading” the strength of your hand.
3. POSTFLOP BET OF 1/3 OF THE POT
This type of bet is used in several situations. It can be to gather information about the opponent’s strength or to disguise a monster hand. But also, with such a bet, you can provoke the opponent to make a 3-bet.
4. POT-SIZE BET
This bet is most often used to protect your hand from your opponent’s draws. By making this bet, you force your opponent to either fold their hand or pay a high price to continue playing in that hand.
5. PREFLOP 3-BET
This bet is primarily used with a strong hand. Its size should typically be three times larger than the opponent’s raise. There are also bluff 3-bets with the same size. However, this is not a rule but rather a recommendation. The size of a 3-bet can also be 2.5 times larger. Many beginner players, when they hear the phrase “3-bet” for the first time, think that it is a mandatory threefold raise, but this is a mistake. You can learn more about the 3-bet in the following articles.
6. PREFLOP 4-BET
This bet typically exceeds the size of a 3-bet by 2.5-3 times. If you want to make a 4-bet and it will require around 2/3 of all your chips, it’s best to go all-in right away; otherwise, you might get called, and you will likely have to bet on the flop. Given that you might miss the flop entirely, it’s easier to rid yourself of making difficult decisions and leave it to your opponent.
Always consider the size of your own bet and the size of the opponent’s bet. This will help you better sense the game, increase your winnings, and decrease losses.
