Value Bet

I have been doing some reading on line and have noticed a interesting part of my game that could be a huge flaw. I think I DO NOT understand the meaning of a value bet. I have always thought this was a ploy (bluff), in order to get your opponent to think you have the hand and fold his better hand. But on the contrary, a value bet is ??? For instance, villains second high pair of K's over my lower pair, tens, with a board that reads out A K 10 2 4. If I have been just smooth calling and hit him with a re raise on the river, is this a value bet or just a bluff? Does the size of your bet indicate a value bet or a bluff? I have had marginal hands and have made bets after a raise and people out there fold which means they raised pre flop on crap ( I would think). I also have had straight draws or flush draws and made the re raise like before and get the same result. A fold. Please help me straighten out this concept, (no matter how much reading I do), I seem to have a complete misunderstanding of.

My understanding of a value bet is that when you are pretty sure you have the best hand, mostly after the river, you bet the maximum amount that you think your opponent will call. This is to extract the maximum value from them.

This is why it is called a value bet.

You can bet for value on any street but it is normally referred to as a value bet after the river.

if you look at the strategy article on this site you can find what's maybe the best and easiest explained article about value bets

ya value bet is something which is quite difficult to get mastered.
it became value bet only when ur dominating the board and u most probably have a winning hand and ur opponent is chasing some draw and ur giving him the impression u too are chasing some draw and ur bet should show that ..if u bet something which indicate ur strength of ur hand then ur opponent will fold
, now a days to get the prefect value bet is very difficult , u have to play lots of tourney to actuall know how mutch u have to bet that ur opponent will pay u off
value bet is nothing but extracting value from ur opponent , in the end u have to gain ur opponet chips ..
some time value bet can be used as semi bluff
... go and watch some videos of phil ivey, look how he value bet
and to do correctly u have to have read like negreanu ..
gud luck mate

Its very simple. A value bet is a bet you are making because you are pretty certain that you have a better hand than your opponent and you are betting for value. (money=value) You are trying to get the most money(value) out of your hand.(because it is most likely the best hand)


A bluff is the opposite. You are pretty sure your hand is the worst but you are betting to make villain fold.(either by using the board or giving him bad pot odds to call).


So every time you make a bet , make it clear to yourself if you are betting for VALUE or as a BLUFF.

A semi bluff is when you are betting with a hand that might not be the best hand but has many outs to improve to the best hand.(such as an open ended straight draw with a flush draw. ...etc etc.)


Also keep in mind that when you are betting for value, you must not make the bets too big because if you fold out the hand, you lose the value of making worse hands call. Bet sizing is important. It is also important to put villain on a range . the better the hand you may think he has, the higher value you can get. Just make sure your not value betting for villain. Meaning betting into a better hand than yourself.

i had the same confusion when i hear the pros talk. but nice to see good reply. thanks vinny

Well... thanks vinylspiros... you cleared that right up. I had always thought value betting was about extracting value (money) from the villain, but that last bit increased my understanding. In fact in a hand I recently posted, I'm pretty sure I over bet the value of my hand and ended up handing over half my stack to the villain.

I thought I had him beat, but I was WRONG! lol