Art of value betting

[Narajin007]

Hi All,

I have a couple of hands I played last night and was hoping to get some feedback.
This first hand is a 1/2 NL game and my stacks and opponent is about $400.

He is in the HJ and raises to $20 preflop. I got Ah and 10d on the button and re-raise to $50. Folds through and he calls.

Pot is about $130.

Flop come to 2 3 10 rainbow. I hit top pair and top kicker. So I bet $100 (~2/3 pot) thinking he might have a drawing hand or over cards and want to make him pay for it. Ive seen him make some wild calls before. He folds. Did I bet right or any thoughts otherwise?

2nd hand is later in the game. I have Qc Jc. 5 players call $6 raise and we go to flop.
Flop is 10c 2d Kc. I bet $15 in small blind. Big blind re-raised to $35. Folds around, and I call.

I hit my king high flush with a 3c. I bet $25 and opponent calls. River is a Jh.
I’m thinking my flush is good here and want him to call. I’m putting him on a top pair or maybe a straight or trips..looking at how he plays.

Pot is about $130 I bet $60 and he calls. I rake in the pot. Could I have done a better value bet?

Last hand, I’m playing against a tilted player who is in the CO and bets $15. I have Qc Jh and re-raise to $50, he calls.

Pot is about $120 (with some blinds).

Flop is 10 A K rainbow. I flop a straight, I think about 5 secs and bet $100 (~2/3 pot) thinking that he seems to be tilted and has a high chance of calling.

After a bit of banter, he tells me he has A 9 trying to get some reaction from me. Eventually he folds.

Any thoughts?

[John S]

Hands 1 & 3:

$100 is a huge flop bet for a 1/2 game. It’s more than a 2/3 bet in both instances (closer to 3/4 or 4/5 pot), which is big to begin with. But a lot of times at these smaller games the actual money size of the bet means more than how much it is relative to the pot. Most 1/2 players aren’t looking to play massive pots with draws/moderate hands. You’re definitely pricing out draws, and realistically only 2-pair plus can call those bets. The first hand you’re repping QQ+, and the second hand you’re repping two pair, sets, or the straight.

Hand 2: This hand is just interesting all the way through. You get raised on the flop then lead the turn for small than what he raised. Bets should almost always increase from street to street. If he made it $35 on the flop, the turn bet should be at least $50, which sets up a $100 or more river bet.

He should never have a straight here. If he has a set or 2 pair here (which might make sense since he raised the flop) you need to pile money in earlier so you can make a bigger bet on the river. Down betting the turn means you can’t make a bigger river bet believable.

[Narajin007]

Thanks for the feed back.

Hands 1 and 3: I based this on opponents wild calls on previous hands. Looking back..maybe $80 or $90 would have been better.

Hand 2: I kind down bet to confuse him and make him call. This opponent is historically very tight my thoughts was he got a good price to call. I was pretty confident that I had the best hand by the turn.

Would it be better to bet $45 or something higher but then get a fold?

I might have gotten more value on the river by betting $80 instead of $60.

[John S]

That’s part of the art of value betting. It’s not just about getting called, it’s about actually getting good value for your strong hands. Sure, sometimes the bigger bet isn’t going to get called, but you need to actually get good value for your hands when you make them.

In hand 2, you bet $25 into a pot of about $100. That’s super tiny. You’re never bluffing $25 into $100, so why are you betting for value at that price? If you bet $60 here, it could be a bluff, could be a good hand, could be a semi-bluff (flush draw, straight draw), and you can get called here a lot.

That makes the pot $220 on the river, and you can easily make a bet from $75-$150 and get called. A lot more value when you size up your bets a bit.

[Author]

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