Bet size NL5?

alenstrat

Joined: 13.03.2009

11.07.2010, 10:09 0

OK, I'm running out of ideas as to things to switch in my game in NL5. I think I've improved vastly many areas, and plugged many leaks the past few weeks, but unfortunately I'm still playing breakeven ball in NL5. :f_frown:

I've come back to tinkering with the idea of bet sizes.

I had started NL5 with the same things I was using in NL2, betting pot or 2/3 pot all the time. I had gotten the feeling people were folding all the time to my bets, and that I wasn't getting value. So I switched my bet sizing.

I have been using 1/2 and 1/3 pot bet sizes for almost a month now. Now I've come to the conclusion that I'm facing the inverse situation. People seem to call my bets and in particular cbets ALL the time. And I feel like I'm not getting enough value on good hands this way either.

The only modification I made recently on this was changing my bet sizes on turn, as I saw done in a lot of coachings, I'd bet more many times to get the pot to a size where most villains will feel pot committed in the river to prepare for a river shove.

So what's failing?

Should I be using a whole mix of bet sizes? Look for an intermediate ie 2/3 and 3/4 pot? I would see the logic of using a whole mix of bet sizes, but that really doesn't seem practical since I don't ever have a precise read on every player on the table. If I did, I'd see the logic of betting smaller on some, larger on others. Should my focus be going towards that. Is bet size as important or more important then when to bet against each type of player? I've always had the impression that the most important decision is simply whether you're betting or not, and that small changes in size of bets aren't that important.

2 replies

Bierbaer

Joined: 27.05.2005

Posts: 4,656

12.07.2010, 08:43 0

I'd say as a general rule you should apply something like:
"Always bet 2/3 pot up to potsize unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise".
Of course people fold more to bigger bets, but the few times they call, the big pots will make you more money than the frequent small to medium pots.

Think about it this way: Every time you bet small they have the odds to call, so they don't make a mistake.
Your selective memory sees "I won a pot", so it assumes you just won money whereas in fact you had a breakeven play - you won absolutely nothing!

So it's obviously much better to take down the occasional big pot where you win some money rather than taking down medium pots all the time where you don't win (in fact you may even lose because of rake and reverse implied odds).

One more way to say it:
Valuebetting big against bad players is the ultimate (and probably only) way to win at poker - you only shovel money back and forth against regs, so you have to exploit the leaks of players playing non-optimal.
Non-optimal means too loose, too passive and too showdownbound most of the time.

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Variance giveth and variance taketh away.

_Anonymous_

16.07.2010, 23:32 0

i always differ my bets so one time i bet half other time i bet 2/3 - 3/4, sometimes full pot:
half pot i usually bet when i have kindda mediocre hand i want weker hands to call, i have monster hand and an aggresive opponent is likely to raise, or if as a bluff the pot is big so 1/2 has the same fold equity as 2/3.
2/3 -3/4 is my standart bets , and pot size i rarely bluff mainly multiway when i have a hand i want to defend, or if heads i want to build a bigger pot and my opponent is a fish.
ovebets on these lmits are mostly for value but can also be good for bluffs sometimes.
also these is this 1/3- 1/4 bet in a big pot mostly multiway when u flop a set for example and u think the flop hit ur opponents range and there is a possible draw he might raise even if he didnt want to and sometimes they do it as abluff, so depends on ur reads if he has a mde hand most likey u slow play cause he is going to be aggressive, or maybe you 4bet him.

[Closed] Bet size NL5?