Know Your Betting Strategy When In A Poker Game Articles | Poker

By: Richard Bleuze

Know Your Betting Strategy When In A Poker Game

When you're making a bet, make every play for a reason.  Ask the two following questions:  is this a value bet or are you trying to get a poker player to fold.  By knowing the answers, the size of the bet will be affected and you will improve the likelihood that your bet will get your mission accomplished.

Do not make the exact same bet in the same circumstance, otherwise you will start to be easy to read by the other poker players.  You want to mix up your bet sizes.  Your goal should be to make the other poker player to fold. 

Generally, you want to bet as little as possible to get the job done - opponent to fold.

If you raise in pre-flop position and are called, and you wish to make a continuation bet, there's no reason to bet the whole pot.

Often a raise in the pre flop of half to two thirds pot bet will get your opponent to fold as well as that larger bet while risking less chips.

You will find that most opponents will fold to the smaller bet just as often as they will to a full pot size bet.  Always remember that if your opponent is dead set on calling, he is going to call no matter what the bet size.

Thus, by betting the smaller amount, you save money when you are called!

When you are making a bet that you want to get called, you are making a value bet.  Generally, you do this because you believe that you have the better hand and you want your opponent to pay you off with a worse one.  In this case, you are better off making a bigger bet that will get called fewer times rather than making a smaller bet that will get called more often.

The bottom line is that you should know you opponent.  Afterall, you are the one who has been playing with them.  Thus, if you want to be a poker winner, you should know their tendencies.

Some poker players may always think an overbet equals bluff, others will think an overbet always equals the nuts.  The opposite is also true - some poker players believe that betting a smaller amount means that the odds are in their favor.  Thus, some players are going to be drawn in by irresistible odds.

Always pay attention and use the information you have gained throughout your poker game to decide what bet size is going to make you the most money.  By taking a few extra seconds and thinking about bet sizing your win rate will increase I'm sure!

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