M
Mike_25
Guest
The way you size your bets depends a whole lot on the kinds of players acting after you. Can't just bet/call/fold uniform every hand. Needs change based on the field and their tendencies.
Tight/passive players, often you can bet bigger into them. Reason is, they tend to call with more marginal garbage. So a larger size wins more from their calls. Occasionally though, smaller sizing lets you get more bets in, or set up bigger check-raises that they call too, but fold less marginal raising in return. Tight fields play well against bigger bets that represent strong hands to keep raising at the pot or fold weak.
Loosely aggressive players, you gotta be careful sizing up against these degens. Bigger sizing risks getting raised/re-raised more often than not with some garish hand or draw. So usually sizing smaller limits their range to calling, raising more heavily or folding a lot easier. Think about their tendency to call cheap draws too much when pots are big. Limit pot size and they burn money faster throwing good money after bad.
Maniacs, avoid going very big too fast when a player so prone to betting/raising absurdly is still to act. Multiple smaller sized bets keep the pot at a more manageable level so if you do end up folding, not too much potential money gets wasted. Later streets though, sizing up a bet can sometimes represent an inferior hand to get a maniac to fold a superior hand rather than paying off. Read their lead/calling/raise/fold tendencies to determine appropriate sizing.
Tight/aggressive, these complex types need balancing. Value betting size moderate so they can call or fold marginal calls, but committed enough to blocking any raising that may pay heavy to pot odds if called. Bluff raising against tight aggro also sizes bigger to induce a huge call/raise, then folding to limit losses from leverage gained in the pot. But tight aggros learning to bluff raise less oft than continuing to bet/raise and fold to two barrels, due to learning getting beat enough by such tactics. Subtle straddles of value and bluffing betting sizes crush them.
Overall, smaller sizing commits less but wins less when called. Larger sizes extract maximum from calls but frequency of calls/raises rises. The balance wins the most from marginal calls and minimizes losses from calls raising the bet up when a better hand should fold. It's an intuitive read and skill built through volume of experience versus different types. Conceptual knowledge however kickstarts the building of this intuition by giving a basis to understand why sizing choice makes each player pay, or the reverse.
Study concepts, compare how to value/bluff different types. Practice range of bet sizing per opponent (and when playing multi-way). Habit builds through pragmatic application. And remember, every session at the tables adds to the database enabling faster, more balanced sizing skill. Work your game through as many hands as possible. The mastery shows.
Tight/passive players, often you can bet bigger into them. Reason is, they tend to call with more marginal garbage. So a larger size wins more from their calls. Occasionally though, smaller sizing lets you get more bets in, or set up bigger check-raises that they call too, but fold less marginal raising in return. Tight fields play well against bigger bets that represent strong hands to keep raising at the pot or fold weak.
Loosely aggressive players, you gotta be careful sizing up against these degens. Bigger sizing risks getting raised/re-raised more often than not with some garish hand or draw. So usually sizing smaller limits their range to calling, raising more heavily or folding a lot easier. Think about their tendency to call cheap draws too much when pots are big. Limit pot size and they burn money faster throwing good money after bad.
Maniacs, avoid going very big too fast when a player so prone to betting/raising absurdly is still to act. Multiple smaller sized bets keep the pot at a more manageable level so if you do end up folding, not too much potential money gets wasted. Later streets though, sizing up a bet can sometimes represent an inferior hand to get a maniac to fold a superior hand rather than paying off. Read their lead/calling/raise/fold tendencies to determine appropriate sizing.
Tight/aggressive, these complex types need balancing. Value betting size moderate so they can call or fold marginal calls, but committed enough to blocking any raising that may pay heavy to pot odds if called. Bluff raising against tight aggro also sizes bigger to induce a huge call/raise, then folding to limit losses from leverage gained in the pot. But tight aggros learning to bluff raise less oft than continuing to bet/raise and fold to two barrels, due to learning getting beat enough by such tactics. Subtle straddles of value and bluffing betting sizes crush them.
Overall, smaller sizing commits less but wins less when called. Larger sizes extract maximum from calls but frequency of calls/raises rises. The balance wins the most from marginal calls and minimizes losses from calls raising the bet up when a better hand should fold. It's an intuitive read and skill built through volume of experience versus different types. Conceptual knowledge however kickstarts the building of this intuition by giving a basis to understand why sizing choice makes each player pay, or the reverse.
Study concepts, compare how to value/bluff different types. Practice range of bet sizing per opponent (and when playing multi-way). Habit builds through pragmatic application. And remember, every session at the tables adds to the database enabling faster, more balanced sizing skill. Work your game through as many hands as possible. The mastery shows.