My latest poker strategy article, Standard Bet Sizes, has just been published in the November 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt to give you an idea of what the article is about:
The ability to size your bet based on the situation and what you hope to accomplish with the bet is one of the primary factors that distinguishes no-limit from fixed-limit hold ’em. Deliberately forfeiting this option is bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Every bet or raise should have a purpose. You can and should tailor the size of the bet to suit that purpose. When done correctly, you can even balance your ranges for various sizes so that your bet sizing is not exploitable.
Check it out and please let me know what you think!
“The purpose of this bet will be to find out whether your opponent likes the flop, so you should generally bet the smallest amount that will give you an answer to that question.”
I liked your article a lot. I do think it would be funny to see you debate it with Chris Ferguson though I actually think you might win. I do have one question. For people that are “less good“ then you which is like everyone reading your article minus like 3 people 🙂
Let’s say we raise wide/weak, don’t hit or maybe make middle pair or something like that, then bet the flop and get called by a “calling station” which is most players I play against, what the heck do we do? I know the answer has to be it depends but my point is that it often means losing a 3rd bet before you know what your opponent has. To avoid all this I just raise/squeeze fewer hands and lead out less when I miss which I can totally admit is exploitable by someone good but against weaker players it makes a lot of sense to me. I guess maybe I should ask, Is there a rule of thumb about how deep you should be to raise limpers (not shove) weak in order to make it worth it in the long run?
Good question. There’s a whole chapter of my book dedicated to this question, so I can’t give a thorough answer here. The short answer is that you should probably bluff less on the flop, but that doesn’t make it unprofitable to play a lot of hands against him pre-flop. If you’re ahead of his pre-flop range, then you’re making money unless he outplays you post-flop, which really shouldn’t be happening.
He doesn’t have magical fishing powers. Either you are ahead of his calling range, in which case you can bet for value, or if you have good reason to think he will fold, in which case you should bluff, or you check. It’s just poker 😉
Excellent. Clear, correct, and grammatical.
When’s the book coming out?
Thanks! And funny you should ask. I literally just finished a rough draft yesterday. Actually I have a question for you, too, but I can’t find your e-mail address on your blog. Could you drop me a line at andrew@thinkingpoker.net?
Thanks!