Bet Sizing

[karthos]

I am getting a bit confused on bet sizing ... I see many different strategies and am not sure which I should adopt in my strategy. Is cash different from MTT or is the basis the same? I play both and I find myself using different sizes. What strategy works best?
/

 

[Nafor]

There is no 'one size, fits all' approach in poker. A good player always adapts to his opponents. In my view cash and tournaments are two totally different games and they need different approaches.

Pick which one you want to master (or at least learn one at a time) and dive in :icon_stud

 

[Redman1902]

I can only speak for cash game. But as important factors for the bet size I see the tendencies of the opponent (passive/aggressive, calling station etc.), the flop texture (dry, wet) and whether you have a range/nut advantage given the board.

Maybe you can base your decision making on some of those factors. Have fun working out your strategy and good luck.

 

[nutself]

I think bet sizing is a big and important issue, the goal of it is to bet in such a way that maximize the winning on our winners but lose minimal on our losers, but easier said than done, it is certainly difficult for most of us, and it will be worthwhile to work hard to improve our ability to choose the correct bet size.

 

[Alizona]

Bet sizing strategy also changes over time, there are trends which happen. Lately, the newest trend in bet-sizing seems to be the overbet - meaning you make a bet size that is like 1.5 times the current size of the pot. The idea is to balance bluff overbets with value overbets so the opponent never knows which one it is. Personally, when someone overbets the pot, I'm clueless and have no idea how to play back against such an opponent except with the nuts (which is quite rare to hold the nuts when it happens)... apparently the use of solver software to study hand histories is where this trend has come from... thanks solvers. LOL

Another trend is the downward bet sizing in tournaments. Years ago it was standard to open the betting to 3x the big blind preflop, but over the years this sizing has gone down, first 2.5x became standard practice, and today in the modern game you'll quite often see 2.2x or even 2.1x being used.

However, if you're playing live cash games in a casino, you'll often see bet sizings of 4x the big blind or even higher, 5x being used. So it really depends on the format you're playing, and also the level you're at. High stakes tournaments mostly feature the 2.1x or 2.2x opens, but the micro tournaments filled with donks like me, I still open to 3x just because I'm old school and also because I don't play as many hands as others do. The idea of a 2.2x sizing is that if you open a ton of hands, you want as small an opening size as possible because it can get expensive if you're opening often but with a bigger size.

 

[eetenor]

I am getting a bit confused on bet sizing ... I see many different strategies and am not sure which I should adopt in my strategy. Is cash different from MTT or is the basis the same? I play both and I find myself using different sizes. What strategy works best?
/

Thank you for posting

1 CASH almost always play 100bb deep MTT most often sub 50bb so sizing has to be different.

2 Our sizing depends on the skill level of our V. We need notes to know this.
Weak players will call larger bets so we can bet larger on all streets vs them.
If we have AA preflop and can shove 100bb and be called then we shove 100bb.

As I am writing this I just did shove AA for 95bb and was called in 2 spots
The very next hand I had KQoff on the BTN and over limped 4 players and it went 7 handed to a flop. Why over limp? 2 players called a shove of 95bb so why would I raise KQoff vs this field.
As we take notes on our Villains we learn what to do vs them.

You may want to share what your V are like and we can suggest betting patterns that will help you win vs them. Even just telling us the CASH/MTT game buy-in like NL5- micro MTT etc will help us to guide you.

Hope this helps

 

[eugenedav]

I just bet the pot when I hit hard. I just shove by the turn if I feel their on a draw. Sometimes I bet a third or half pot on the river for thin value. This method only value to me for sets, straights, two pairs. I started notice they'd call you down light online. So I came up with this method I build my stack pretty quickly.

 

[ROYALROAD]

Bet sizing is neglected in small stakes of cash games and micro tournaments.

 

[Evan Jarvis]

I am getting a bit confused on bet sizing ... I see many different strategies and am not sure which I should adopt in my strategy. Is cash different from MTT or is the basis the same? I play both and I find myself using different sizes. What strategy works best?
/

Hey there Karthos,

The more important consideration than what format you're playing is who your opponent is and how they think about the game. Do they value their stack? Are they risk inclined (willing to take chances) or risk averse (not wanting to take any losses or variance).

Here's a video that can help with the framework for how to decide when to stick with set bet sizes vs when to adjust it to try and 'exploit' your opponent

hope it helps!

 

[karthos]

Hey there Karthos,

The more important consideration than what format you're playing is who your opponent is and how they think about the game. Do they value their stack? Are they risk inclined (willing to take chances) or risk averse (not wanting to take any losses or variance).

Here's a video that can help with the framework for how to decide when to stick with set bet sizes vs when to adjust it to try and 'exploit' your opponent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd2h6s7RHjY

hope it helps!

That was super helpful TY

 

[Roller]

Bet sizing cash versus MTT's is often very different but then again it depends on table dynamics and stakes in cash and more so the table dynamics and the stage of the tournament in MTT's. Bet sizing is the same as you need to determine what works in both situations.