Playing poker is interesting and exciting, especially if you understand the rules and you have some tricks and strategies to use, which makes the whole thing more interesting to you and people who play together with you. But, do you know what’s the biggest struggle of the people who play poker? They should decide how to size their bets, and that doesn’t go always as planned. There is no particular rule on how to do that, but surely there are some tricks that apply in different situations.
Some people prefer to follow their guts on this, but others just want to use some strategy that will give an impression they have control over their actions. Usually, it’s a decision they come up with at the moment, but it should be based on knowledge and experience too. Also, when playing online, some limits may apply, so you have to be smart when you choose your favorite online casino. Mr Green is one of the ways to do it smartly.
The poker bet sizing theory is one of the basic approaches on how to do these things. This theory says that you have to choose the size of your bets based on how strong your range is compared to the opponents. Even though the most logical choice is based on the hand you have, probably you need to be smarter than that, and use a little bluff to come up with the best possible outcome. Visit this site to learn more.
You have to keep in mind that even after reading this article, you won’t be able to determine the perfect bet size, but you will get closer to it as time goes by, no matter if it depends on the preflop action, board texture, range advantage, and so on.
So, let’s see some of the tricks experienced poker players are using to determine their bet size.
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1. The triple bet (3x Rule)
Source: pokernews.com
No matter how big the pot is, when someone is raising, the next player is calling 3x. That means no matter what, your bet should be at least three times bigger than the previous one. For example, if the other player raises $2, you have to go for $6 next, so you can spike up the winnings on the table. Sometimes the initial bets are very small because some players want to play safe, so we can say that this works better on mid-range bets.
The balance is the key. You need to exactly estimate when it’s the right time to go triple, or you can only double the initial bet. You can do this one even when you don’t have some good hand too. Also, sometimes you can even use 3.5x of the previous bet when you have a good hand and better rank among the other players. By doing this, you are making others think you have something exceptional. But, don’t go too far with the bluffing, because it can easily come back over your head.
2. Don’t raise the same amount as the previous player
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That’s boring and can’t confuse all the people at the table, including you. You don’t need to be consistent with this one. The more players present, the more interesting it gets. At first, you can double the bet, and if they all call, you can triple it, or put it 4x the next time. But, the bets shouldn’t be forced. At some point, you can bet 2.5x or 3.3x, but that depends on the current excitement. By doing that, players gain control over their bank, and they control how much money they can invest in this hand. Surely, the option to fold is always there if you don’t like how the situation is going.
3. Betting between 50% and 100% of the pot
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You can determine the post-flop bet based on the total number of chips or amount of money in the pot. The best way is to use 50% or 100% of it, depending on the number. For example, if the amount is $100, you can raise for 50%, up to 100%. But, you can also raise, for example, 70% of the amount. If you bet on smaller than 50%, you probably want to play safe and stick to the bright side of the game, without risking a lot – which is still good, as long as you have control over the bankroll.
4. 405-60% of the pot
Source: PokerNews.com
This is known as Flop CBets, and it’s for the games with smaller pots and insecure players who are afraid to go 80%-100% of it. Also, this increases the call chances. You can’t raise 80% at the first flop and expect everyone to do that. That’s why you need to start slowly and raise as much as you can. According to the experts, the 40%-60% bets are a great way to ensure the pot will get bigger, without forcing the others to invest more of their chips or money. This is maybe not the fastest way to increase the pot, but it makes the whole thing go smoother and doesn’t put any pressure over the other players to call, even when they don’t feel like that.
As you can see, you have some basic things you have to know, but the rest is on you. As we said, don’t hold only to the strength of your hand, but choose something you can control, and won’t make you easily readable to the opponents.
The polarized style is something many poker players are doing regularly, and they bet bigger when they have the better hand, and stick to the bluffs when they are weaker. But, we don’t want everyone to be aware of the hand we have, and that’s why we have to be a little confusing, so they won’t have a clue what we are doing at the moment.
So, you can choose to limit yourself to 50% of the current pot, and don’t go over it, or use any of the methods we described above. Keep in mind that online poker may have different limits depending on how strong the league is, or their limit is fixed and you can’t go above it. We suggest using pot-limited or no-limit poker tables at this point and of course – gain control over the bankroll before you lose everything.
