Poker Strategy - Betting

It's important to always know the reason that you are checking, calling, folding, betting, or raising, and how much you should bet. A lot of players just bet for the sake of betting, because they don't know what else to do.

In this post, I'll discuss the reasons for betting and how much you should bet.

Why should you bet?

Betting for value

You have a good hand and want to get more money into the pot for you to win.

Probe bets/Gaining information/Preventing a bet by someone else

You have a marginal to good hand and you want to find out what kind of hands the other players have.

Semi-bluffing

You have a drawing hand, but by betting, you have a chance to win the pot immediately. In addition, if you make your hand, then there will be more money in the pot for you to win.

Knocking players out

You have a marginal to good hand, but would rather win the pot right now, because there are a lot of potential draws for other players. Also, you might have a hand (like AK preflop) that plays better against fewer opponents.

Total bluff

Your hand is total trash and has no chance of winning the pot except if you bet and everyone folds.

Continuation bets

A continuation bet is a bet that you make on the flop when you showed preflop strength by being the preflop bettor or raiser. You bet on the flop regardless of whether you've made anything. Your continued aggression may allow you to win the pot without a fight. You prefer to have only one opponent when making a continuation bet, since odds are that he missed the flop too. But if you have
a draw, and your opponents all check to you, you should probably take the free card.

How much should you bet?

In a structured game, you don't have much choice in the amount to bet, unless you go for a check-raise. You need to be pretty confident that someone will bet in order to try for a check-raise; otherwise, you'll be giving a free card. Of course, if you have a total lock to win the hand, giving a free card is not a problem. In a spread limit game, you have a little control over the size of the bet. And of course in big bet poker (pot-limit or no-limit), you have great control over the bet size. When I refer to betting 1/4 of the pot or more, I'm referring to big bet poker, but it also applies a little to spread limit.

When betting for value, you should bet the amount that will get the most money into the pot. So if you are playing a game where you can bet any amount, you should consider what the other players will do. For example, with 3 opponents, if you think all 3 will call a $5 bet, but only 1 would call a $10 bet, then the $5 bet will get more money in the pot.

Probe bets should be 1/4 to 1/3 of the pot. You don't want to waste too much money on the probe bet, because you're going to dump the hand if you get raised. You just
hope that your opponents' hands are so poor that they can't even call a small bet.

When semi-bluffing, you must bet enough to get your opponents to fold. The more you want them to fold (because you have a low quality draw), the more you should bet. The more you want them to call (because you have a high quality draw), the less you should bet (but still enough that they might fold, since this is a semi-bluff).

Obviously if you want to knock players out, you should bet the amount that will do that. The more you want players to drop, the more you should bet. 1/2 the size of the pot is often enough, and betting the size of the pot should be enough to make any player fold who doesn't have a quality hand or a premium draw.

A total bluff is when you have no chance to win the pot in a showdown. If you think you have any chance to win in a showdown, such as when you have a small pair or ace high, you should probably not bluff, because you could actually win. You bet the amount that you think will make the other player fold. Note, however, that a huge amount isn't always necessary. If you bet 1/5 of the pot or less, experienced opponents (if they respect you) will consider that a sucker bet, indicating that you have a huge hand and are just trying to milk them fo a little more money. It helps if the river card makes a big hand, like a straight or flush to which you could have been (but weren't) drawing, and you don't think they were drawing to it.

Continuation bets should be about 1/2 the pot. Any opponent that calls will only be getting only 3 to 1 from the pot, and is probably at least 4 to 1 dog to make his draw, if he has one.

Keep in mind

You may want to accomplish more than one goal with your bet. For example, if you have a good hand but have 5 opponents, you may wish to bet for value, but also to narrow the field. With so many opponents, it's more likely that someone will draw out on you. So you might bet a higher amount, which will get more money in to the pot, but maybe not as much money as you would like. The higher bet will accomplish your other goal of knocking out some players.

Or you may have a combination of a decent hand and also a big draw, so your bet might be a value bet but also a semi-bluff.