Understanding Bet Sizing

July 28, 2009 by Curtom
Filed under Poker Resources, Poker Strategy in Oz poker, Pro Tips

Using proper bet sizing allows you to do several things during the course of playing the hand. I honestly believe that more hands are lost playing poker because of poor bet sizing than almost anything else. By sizing your bets correctly you are able to protect your hand against draws and move your opponents off of hands when they miss theirs. You are also able to narrow down your opponents that will be involved in the hand as well.

Pre – Flop bet sizing allows you to limit the number of players that enter the pot. Obviously this applies to No Limit games and particularly Texas Hold’em. Usually with premium hands like Aces, Kings, and Queens you do not want to play them against more than three opponents at the most. The best way to do this is to raise or re-raise an amount that will push others out of the pot. That does not mean that you should be careless either. If you are holding Queens and you raise and then get re-raised you definitely have something to take into consideration. However, with Kings and Aces you want to play those hands heads-up and then optimize your profits as the hand progresses.

By not raising with premium hands pre-flop you lower your win percentages significantly and thus the effectiveness of your hand and potential winnings.

Post – Flop bet sizing is done to take advantage of drawing hands and / or to move your opponent(s) off of drawing hands. This also entails utilizing position as well. Let’s say you are holding [Q][Q] and the flop comes down [Xs][Xs][J]. Making a pot sized bet is certainly reasonable. However, depending on what the blind structure is in relation to your chip count you need to discourage your opponent from drawing at the Spade flush. So, I am going to make a bet that is going to cost him around 25% of their stack. Why? Because you want to make your opponent feel the pain if they miss the turn and then put the pressure on even more on the river. You also want to discourage the draw because any [K] or [A] will get you in trouble as well.

True, some poker players are going to call no matter how much you bet on the flop when they have a draw. This kind of aggressiveness plays in your favor and will net you plenty of chips. However, they will also draw out on you from time to time but that is simply a part of the game. It happens.

Lastly, consider when you have flopped a Set or Straight and their are no flush draws on the board. Bet sizing becomes even more important then. The last thing you want to do is push your opponent out of the pot when you have the stone cold Nutz. Bet sizing allows you to tell a story and when you tell your story well you get paid for the show in the end. There is no greater feeling than a well played hand that gets paid off on the river. That is what the game of poker is all about. So whether you play online poker or live tournament poker and cash games your understanding and execution of bet sizing and position will improve your results even more.