Some tips on working out how much to bet / raise etc.

I remember WV mentioning before bet sizing was one of the most important skills in poker. I really don't know what I am doing with bet sizes. I pretty much hit the 75% button every time. Some help on understanding the concept would help me improve my game I think.

Tournament play or cash games? (if you specify I'll try to make a few suggestions... although my experience is more with 'tourney-style' play).

Cash game

Pot odds are a consideration; making it so that your opponent is making a mistake to chase if they have a flush draw for example.

But the main considerations are your opponents and your hand. That is to say, if you're playing $10nl or lower and your opponents don't pay attention to bet sizes, then bet bigger with a big hand, as much as you think your opponent will call. If it's a continuation bet with only one overcard or a hand without a lot of value, bet 1/2 pot or as little as might get them to fold, unless they never fold in which case there's no point betting.

You'll probably get a bunch of different perspectives as the thread grows. These perspectives are related to how they play.

Opening preflop is a major one imho. Some people say the amount should be related to position, others that it should be always the same. My personal view is that when I first sit my opening will be 4BB. If the table is too loose, if there are a number of limpers, etc, I'll adapt, but I will not change the 4BB raise depending on what my hand is, ever!

Post flop betting should be based on % of the pot. What that % is depends on a number of factors. I for once always bet 1/2 of the pot unless I want to make runners pay for their draws where I'll bet full pot. I'm considering 2/3 as my base bet though. In the river I either shove or bet full pot for value (depending on the villain) or make a blocker bet of 1/4 of the pot. I'm pretty sure my river tactics won't work on higher stakes though.

One of the things is that I'm extremely consistent. I use the same percentages in the same situations for either value or fold. I'm not sure if this is the correct thing to do, but it's working at the moment.

betting half the pot at the micro's when you actually have a hand is pretty bad i think Vlad, When you hit a hand against fish who are calling too much you should be betting more like 75-100%, mines usually closer to 100 than 75. This lets us build the pot so that on the river we will be able to bet an amount which will be a nice amount for the villain to call and hopefully we can get all in without over betting on the river. Also stops giving opponents the odds they need too, noones folding the flop to a half pot bet when they have a flush draw i dont think.

^^^^

make sure to not just do things cause there working for you at the moment always try to understand why there working and if they are, then look if theres another way to get the max value out of every single situation

for example u may be winning by betting 1/2 pot so you think "ok im winning so then that must be the most +ev way of going about it" when u could be betting 2/3-pot and still get the same number of calls as u would when betting 1/2. always look for the most +ev line and max every penny out of opposition

I don't, I bet full pot against draws unless I make a mistake.

Good point. It was in this line of thought that I was considering 2/3 of the pot as I mentioned in my post.