Value Betting

Value Betting is something that is used on every street of virtually every type of poker game. The main concept to get from value betting is that you want to get the most money you possibly can get. Basically, it is putting a bet out that your opponent can call with their hand. This bet can be a very small bet or it can be an all-in. The key to making effective value bets after getting your poker bonus is to be able to determine the cards that your opponent is holding and then determining how much you can get from them. In an instance a number usually pops in to a players head and they fire the bet out without really thinking through if it is too small or too big. A good way to decide what is an effective value bet is looking at the size of the pot.

If the size of the pot is very large than an all-in could be a value bet. If someone checks then calls you twice in a hand that has no draws on it, then often a pot sized river bet will look like a bluff. Therefore making the pot sized bet can get you paid off in a hand, but you can also look at the hand in a different sense. Sometimes a player will not fire three streets without the nuts or a big hand, so a new way to look at it is if a board is 229 and you are holding AA, you can play it differently. The best way to get paid off in this case is following with a strong bet on the flop, then checking the turn. The reason to check the turn is because now your opponent immediately thinks AK or two high cards. If another blank falls on the river you can then fire a big bet out on the river, and get paid off by a weak hand.

An often misconception of value bets is that they have to be smaller relative to the size of the pot. A value bet can be an all-in if the pot is right and you played a hand to confuse your opponent. Most of the time you will see half of the pot sized bets on the river for value or even bets that are 25 to 30% of the pot. These bets are considered to be thin value bets. These thin value bets are good in some instances, and some of the top pros even make bets like this with nothing to lose little when they bluff. Almost every player who sees a bet that is 25% of the pot on the river will instantly think that their opponent is holding the nuts. But, the thing is that most players even if they see that bet will still make the call with a hand like top pair on a straightened board just because the odds on them having the best hand are better the smaller the size of the bet.