Make Right-Sized Bets

One of the best ways to spot new players in a No Limit game is bet size. New players will often make bets and raises that just don't make any sense.

You've seen these guys. They like to throw in a bet that is one-tenth of the pot, or nine times the size of the pot. You often see this on the celebrity poker shows, but it happens in small tournaments and low-priced side games as well. And it makes a new player stick out like a sore thumb. Here are the classic situations when I see this happening:

1. Pre-flop. After a few callers, somebody raises the minimum. Say, from the $2 big blind to $4. For top pros, this is a good slow play. But for the rest of us, raising by this little is not going to push anybody out, except for possibly one of the blinds. You will still be up against all players who have enough to call the big blind, and even if you have pocket aces, that's too many opponents.
2. Pre-flop in the other direction. After a few folds, or even a call or two, somebody throws a raise that is ten times the size of the big blind. Odds are very good that the player will take down the pot pre-flop, but what has he gained? A couple of blinds and two-dollar bets? If he really had a monster hand, then he's lost the potential serious pot that the hand could have generated. If he had a moderate raising hand such as 10-10, A-Q or A-J, he is taking a chance that someone with a monster will call the big bet and have them beaten. The risk-reward ratio just isn't there. If the only hands that will call you are hands that will beat you, what's the point of raising?
3. On the flop or the turn, they make a small bet of ten or fifteen percent of the pot. You aren't going to get anybody who caught any part of the flop to fold. You will only get folds from players who completely missed. If there are a lot of players in the pot, you are inviting them to outdraw you. Either they'll hit their straights and flushes, or they will make two pair by the river.
4. On the river, with a marginal hand. They make a smallish bet here, just enough to drive out opponents who missed their draws. You will only be called on this bet if you are beaten, so why even bet here? If you're going to bet the river, you should either have the best hand, or bet enough to drive out a better hand than yours. You cannot split the difference, put in a small bet, and have it called by someone with a hand weaker than your own. You will get a fold from weakness and a raise from strength. Either way, you won't win any more money than if you had checked.

Whenever you bet or raise, you are trying to do one of three things - add to the pot when you have the best hand, bluff at the pot when you don't have the best hand, or bet to gain information if you're not sure. Putting in a little dinky bet does none of these things. You're not going to build a pot to any significant degree. You're not going to get anyone to fold. And if your bet is called, so what? Does that mean that your opponent caught something, or is just paying the minimum to stick around for another card? Your "information bet" gives you nothing but confusion.

So instead of making the mistakes listed above, follow these suggestions 99% of the time. (I say 99% of the time because it's okay to change up every once in awhile, just to be unpredictable. Just don't make a habit of it.)

1. When you raise pre-flop, assuming you are not trying to steal the blinds, you want exactly one caller. If you have aces or kings, you can live with two callers, but you never, under any circumstances want more than two callers in a hand.

Pay attention to your game, and note the size of raises that induce one or two callers. That's how much you are going to raise, when you have a hand worth raising, whether it is a pair of eight's or a pair of aces.

In tournaments, that amount is usually three to four times the big blind, but in cash games it varies widely from table to table. I've played in games where I need to put in five or six times the big blind to get anybody to fold. If so, that's what I raise to.

And I raise that amount no matter what I have. If I were to raise one amount with monsters and another with marginal raising hands, how difficult would it be to put me on a hand? Not very. But if you raise the same amount every time, and get zero, one, or two callers, you will be in good shape when the flop comes out.

2. On the flop, many players like to take a stab at the pot. They put in a bet, and if anybody calls it, they will assume that they caught something and will back down on the turn and the river. If nobody calls it, then they can take the pot down right there.

There is nothing wrong with this strategy, so long as you take a meaningful stab. A meaningful stab should be a bet equal to anywhere from half the pot to the whole pot. Anything less doesn't achieve what you want to achieve. And anything more is usually too risky.

Again, watch your game, and look at the size of the first bet after the flop, compared with the size of the pot. If that bet induces most other players to fold, then that's the right amount. If it induces other players to hang around with drawing hands, then it is not enough. In some games, you must bet at least the size of the pot in order to drive anyone out. In others, half the pot will do. Pay attention to the game that you're in, and bet accordingly.

3. On the turn and river, you are still trying to drive out drawing hands (or at least make them pay too much to hang in with you). So make these bets enough to do so as well. Generally, if you bet less than half the pot, your opponent is getting more than four to one on his money to call you. To most players, this is enough for a straight draw of a flush draw, and they'll be in there drawing, even heads up. The only way to drive them out is to make your bet bigger.

Of course, some players simply cannot be driven out at any price. And those players will catch cards for big pots. But remember, if they are paying too much for every draw, the money will come your way more often than it will go their way. It will be a lot less dramatic when it does, but it will still come back to you.

4. Finally, on the river, you have three choices. If you have the best hand, bet as much as you can and still get called. If you have the worst hand, bet just enough to get your opponent to fold. And if you're not sure, check.

Checking may seem like the weak-tight solution, but if you don't know if you've got the best of it, it is the only option you have. If your opponent checks back to you (or if you are in last position), then the hand is over. If he bets, then you have to make a tough decision, but you have more information to base your decision on.

They key to betting with a purpose is to make bets that are significant when compared with the size of the pot. Making bets that are the right size for the situation will not only show that you know what you are doing, but will also induce more folding, leaving you with more uncontested pots. Your opponents will know that going up against you will mean that they will have to put a significant number of chips at risk, and more often than not, they will wait for a better spot. You will find yourself being outdrawn less frequently, and bluffed less often. And you will get more respect from your opponents, which is perhaps the most important thing in poker.

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