Most players, even winning players, don’t think enough when they play. We’re all guilty of sometimes slipping into auto-pilot mode where betting, checking and folding take place without too much thought. More worryingly, some players never ever think about the specific reasons for the actions they’re taking and that will obviously lead to big mistakes. When you decide to bet you should know why you’re doing so and have a plan for the rest of the hand.
There are two main reasons for betting. The first is to get your opponent to call with a worse hand. This is betting for value. The second is to get your opponent to fold a better hand. This is bluffing.
The largest proportion of your bets should be for value. These will vary from very obvious bets such as when you raise before the flop with K-K all the way through to more marginal or ‘thin’ value bets such as top pair, top kicker on the river when the flush has arrived and it’s been checked to you. The objective with all these bets is to extract chips from your opponent when they are losing. Your bets should be priced to give you the greatest expected value, in other words you should bet as much as you think you can get paid. Guard against making bets where you can’t get paid by worse hands.
The second main reason to bet is to get your opponent to fold a better hand than yours. These bets can range from pure bluffs where you hold absolutely nothing through to semi-bluffs where you can improve to the winning hand if you’re called.
Don’t get mixed up
Often these two objectives get confused. For example, players bet when they have some showdown value and are unlikely to be called by worse. When you do this you’re turning your hand into a bluff which is often a mistake. There are also other less important reasons to bet. One is to prevent being bluffed. This is a defensive or blocking bet and can be made when you think you often have the best hand but don’t want to face a big bet.
Another reason to bet is to protect your hand. This applies in situations where you’re confident you’re ahead but don’t want to allow your opponent a chance to catch a miracle card to beat you, so you bet even though you think there’s little chance of being called. However, you should focus on betting for value or to bluff. Knowing when to utilise these are the mainstays of winning poker.
Why you shouldn’t bet 'for information’
You will often hear players use phrases like ‘I bet to find out where I was.’ In fact even in analysis or poker commentary people use the phrase ‘bet (or raise) for information’. Most of the time it’s a mistake to view a bet or a raise as an attempt to gain information. And here’s why…
The first problem is that you may not get the information you want or may not like the information you get. Let’s say you call a preflop raiser with 8-8 and the flop comes K-6-2. You don’t know if your Eights are good or not so you decide to bet to ‘find out where you’re at.’ Your opponent raises you – now what? What information have you gained? Have you just found out your hand is beaten or have you just found out your opponent is a strong player who views your lead as weakness?
What if your opponent calls your bet – what have you learned now? Maybe your opponent’s call is weakness and he’s calling with a worse hand, maybe it’s strength and he’ll extract value from you on a later street. He may even be floating you with position.
Thinking like a winner
Getting information should be a by-product of betting, not the sole reason for your bet. It simply is not a good enough reason for putting chips in a pot, because good players will exploit you. Of course, your opponents’ response to your bets will give you information, but you shouldn’t be choosing to bet just so that you can respond to their reaction! Betting to see where you are is a defensive way of thinking about the game and is counter to what should be your main plan: to be the one asking the difficult questions. You should focus on making as many of your bets as possible either for value to be called by worse hands or as bluffs to make better hands fold. That way you’re the aggressor and you’re thinking about the game in the right way.
Planning your betting
Whenever you bet, your opponent’s reaction shouldn’t be a surprise to you – in fact you should have a plan for it. Too often players make a bet and then appear dumbfounded when their opponent raises. This can come from not thinking enough about the reasons they bet and also from not thinking enough about their opponent’s range of hands. More often than not the main reason is not having a plan for the hand beyond firing out a solitary bet.
One of the worst things that can happen is being check-raised and not knowing what to do. Unless you have a super-strong hand or a pure bluff this is going to put you in a tough spot, but in a heads-up pot you should always be aware of this possibility. For example, you hold T-T on a Qh-5h-2c flop. You bet and are check-raised. Does your opponent do this with his draws? As a bluff? Or only with a Queen or better? If you fold to his check-raise have you effectively turned your Tens into a bluff?
The key is to think ahead about what a check-raise would mean. Sometimes this may mean that rather than betting you should check behind to control the size of the pot. In other spots against predictable players you can plan to bet then fold if raised, knowing your opponent won’t be making that move with a worse hand.
Flopping a big hand
Another situation where it’s important to have a solid plan is if you have a strong hand and are planning on extracting value. You should ask yourself how many streets of value you can get from your opponent’s range of hands and how this should affect your bet-sizing so that you can get as many of his chips in the middle as possible. For instance, if you flop a monster such as A-K on an A-A-2 board you might decide you will only get value on one street if your opponent doesn’t hold an Ace and the money will go in anyway if he does, so slow-playing is the best line to take.
During a hand you shouldn’t just be deciding whether to bet or not but constantly asking yourself questions like, ‘What is my plan if I’m raised?’ and ‘How do I extract the maximum from my opponent and get his whole stack in with my big hands?’