Your bet sizing can be a key component in your poker game. If you fail to make the right basic bet sizes then you could be leaving a lot of money at the tables. Throughout this article we will look at sizing your bets, advantages and disadvantages of betting big or small and pre flop bet sizing.
Best Poker Sites for Easy Games:
Sizing your bets in poker games
One of the biggest factors to recognise in any hand is the size of the pot throughout each street. From this we can base the amount we want to bet as a percentage of how much is in the pot. A good rule of thumb for No Limit Holdem is around 2/3 to ¾ the pot size.
Advantages of betting big or small
Making your bet sizing big is a great way to exploit the weaknesses of poor opponents by charging them for hands such as weak pairs or draws that they are looking to see the next card no matter what the size of the bet or the pot odds.
Another good situation to make your bet sizing larger is when facing very poor opponents (fish) who are likely to call down with next to nothing. In these cases we are looking to set our bet sizing up so we can put ourselves in a position where we can get all our money in on the river for value with our big hands. This may mean that in some point in the hand that you need to bet around, or maybe even over, the size of the pot to achieve our goal.
When you decrease your bet sizing you want to be doing so with smaller hands that you think may have some showdown value or even with draws that you are hoping to see another card for cheap. Betting small can be a great way to pot control, meaning that you don’t have to pay over the odds with a lesser made hand.
Disadvantages of betting big or small
While the above points are all valid, it is important to remember that against better players this can become exploitable. Opponents who are looking at your betting patterns and bet sizing will be making notes on how much you bet and with what hands.
If you do come across an opponent like this, then it will be imperative that you balance your range or employ a tactic where against that player you use a set bet sizing for all hands to make it much more difficult for them to obtain a read from you during the hand.
Pre flop bet sizing
Whilst a simple rule of thumb for this can be used, the amount of people who actually make mistakes still with their pre flop bet sizing is mind blowing.
You should be looking to make the majority of your pre flop opens to 3 big blinds with 1 big blind extra for every limper in the pot. Whilst a simple rule, it’s a very solid foundation for any pre flop bet sizing strategy.
As with post flop bet sizing, there are situations where this can be altered and it’s often situational or opponent dependent.
Retain a solid image and foundation against the better players, whilst increase your bet sizing versus the poorer players with hands for value.
