After reading about position strategy and what hands to play depending on your position at the table and poker odds and outs, you will understand that as a general rule you want to adopt an aggressive style of play (betting and raising) as opposed to a passive one (checking and calling). For this reason, determining the optimal size of a bet is very important.
What are you trying to accomplish with your bet? ”
Are your cards good enough to play in your position? Or is it a matter of pushing opponents to fold so that you can steal chips?
Factors to keep in mind before betting
- The board. What style of play have your opponents adopted?
- The pot size.
- Your chip stack and that of your opponents. What chip stacks do they have? What chip stack have you got?
- How many opponents are left to bet?
- What is the development of the current hand?
As a general rule it is best to bet big rather than small because it:
- Gives opponents incorrect pot odds to continue with drawing hands.
- Is more valuable to us, since we win more when our opponents call with worse hands.
How much should you bet?
Pre-Flop: Raise 3 or 4 times the size of the big blind + 1 for each limper.
Post-Flop: Bet around 3/4 the size of the pot
