Hey guys! I'm back with another article. This time we are gonna discuss about betting post flop at the micros. I'm giving out my thoughts and hope you reply with yours to get the discussion going
We will pretty much forget about regs in this article and concentrate on betting against weak players, as we can bet very straight forward against them and they won't be recognizing our patterns. So, unless I mention otherwise, we are playing against a loose/passive fish who like to call a lot. Also, the examples often assume that we were the pf raiser and the fish called.
For value/protection
Betting for value at the micros is pretty straight forward. The general line is to bet big. If the opponent is a reg, you need to polarize your betting patterns and not vary your bet sizing too much depending on your hand strength, but fish won't be recognizing any patterns, so against them we can bet very exploitably. If the fish somehow realizes that we bet bigger with bigger hands, it's easy to adjust.
The bet sizing against a fish will depend on pot to stack ratios, hand strength and the scare factor of future streets. Let's look at them each.
1) Pot to stack ratio
If we have a big hand and we want to stack the fish, we need to bet the amount on each street that he is comfortable to call with worse. We want to build the pot so that he will have something like <90% of the pot (something like 30 to 75% is optimal depending on the situation) left on the street where we want to get all his money in. The final street might be the flop, turn or river.
If we have 100bb effective in position against a fish who just check/calls, we will need to bet big on every street to get his stack in on the river. Let's say we raised to 4x pre on the button and he called from the BB. The pot is 9.5bb on the flop.
Flop 9.5 + 8 + 8 = 25.5
Turn 25.5 + 20 + 20 = 65.5
River 65.5, we have 68 left
Need explanation? Fine, here it comes. If the pot is 9.5 on the flop and we bet 8 and he calls, the pot will be 25.5 on the turn. We bet 20 and he calls, the pot will be 65.5 on the river and we have 68 left. Did we build the pot well? No we didn't, because we have over a pot size bet left. Let's try it again.
Flop 9.5 + 8.5 + 8.5 = 26.5
Turn 26.5 + 23.5 + 23.5 = 73.5
River 73.5, we have 64 left
Now, that's a better situation. But as you can see, with 100bb stacks we will have to bet very big on each street to leave a fairly good size bet on the river that the fish can still call. If you think he is calling those type of bets nearly as often as 50% pot bets, you need to make those big bets.
With smaller stacks, building the pot is very easy. Unless you want to protect your hand, you can bet smaller and "rope the dope" to get his stack in very comfortably.
2) Hand strength
If you think you are way ahead of his range, just bet big unless you don't really need to build the pot to get his stack in comfortably or you have a hand that totally crushes the board and he can't have anything. If you have AA and the flop comes A22 rainbow, you might want to check the flop, bet the turn fairly large and overbet the river. He will have hard time folding unless he has a missed draw (which won't be calling anyways) or a small PP (very small part of his range).
3) Scare factor of future streets
Probably the most legendary situation is where you have AA and the flop comes like 987 with a flush draw. In these cases you want bet big almost always because so many worse hands will call and there are very many turn cards you don't want to see, so you can't afford to give a free card.
As as a semi bluff
So, you have a nice draw. First of all you need to think if it's good if you hit. Having 56o on a 78Thhs is not a nice draw, because we don't have any sure outs. On that type of a board with 56o, we ain't gonna put more money in the pot unless we hit. And if we hit, we will be very careful.
Generally betting as a semi bluff, there are various things to consider. First of, how many outs do you think you have? Against a fish, if you have the nut fd with 2 overs, you can pretty much bet as if you have the nuts, especially if you are in position. Another thing to consider is will the future streets give me more folding equity or equity in terms of outs?
If the flop comes AK9ssc and you have 78ss, you can't count 7 or 8 to be your outs and you can't expect him to be folding on the turn. In these type of situations you can't think "if I hit on the turn..." You need to think "how often does he fold on the turn", because 4 times out of 5 you won't hit.
In the previous example your position becomes very important. IP you can bet the flop and check the turn behind. If you are OOP, double barrelling against a calling station is often a leak (unless you hit of course). You can probably take a stab on the flop, check the turn and give up if he bets (unless you get odds to call or you have a
strong betting tell that he is weak and won't call a check raise).
Lets take another example. We have QJss and the flop comes T82hsc and we are in position, we essentially have the nuts. You are not quite following? Let me explain. We have a lot of folding equity on the flop. But if he calls, we have two overs which will often be good, we have a gutshot which would give us the nuts, a spade will give us a flush draw and A or K will give us more outs and often more folding equity, so there are a lot of turn cards that we will like and as we have position, we can evaluate on the turn how much equity + folding equity we have to decide whether to bet or check behind.
Your bet sizing should gear towards larger bets if you have a big draw. If you have not so good of a draw, you can either check or bet basically as a bluff if the board is otherwise dry and there will be some good turn cards to barrel again. Cbetting like 60-70% of the pot on the flop would be fine as the fish will fold if he doesn't have anything.
As a pure bluff
Betting as a pure bluff against a fish is fairly simple. If the board comes very dry, like Q74 rainbow and you have absolutely nothing, you can bet the flop and just give up if he calls. Don't try to barrel him off of his pair. You will get his money when you hit something bigger than he does and he is unable to let it go.
As a bluff for value
This is a more advanced concept that I've been experimenting with lately to some degree. The idea is simple, but I wouldn't recommend this until you fully understand the previous topics. Applying it incorrectly will lead to spewing.
The idea is to bet an amount that gives you folding equity, but builds the pot so that you will win a large pot when you get a fold by making a big bet later. Don't try this against a player who doesn't fold any hand. You can use it in spots where your opponent can fold his third pair and you have a read that he is weak. I'm not the best one to talk about this, but let's consider one example where it's almost a risk free and a very effective play.
Say that you have some garbage hand OTB and a nit calls you from the SB and the flop comes T43 rainbow. You think that his range is like AJ+ and pocket pairs < JJ . So he checks and you bet. You bet around 80% of the pot which is small enough that he can call and he calls. Now, he probably has something like 33-TT. The turn comes a J and he checks again.
Now, he either has a set which will checkraise or he has something like 55-99. Of course, he doesn't have a set very often based on pure combinations and the fact that he checked OOP 2 times in a row. The standard line would be to bet here big so that he folds. But we are betting here an amount that he can call, but can't call the river. So if we bet like 50-60% of the pot and make it a pot on the river, he is never calling the river unless he hits his 2 outter. Also, he is probably never checkraising as a bluff on the turn and the times when he checkraises, we can get away fairly cheap.
Raising on the turn to buy a free river
I decided to take this into the discussion as I played a hand today against a fish where I used this specific technique.
The villain is 79/0/1.9. I've seen him once betting the turn small and making a pot size river bet.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) -
Full-Tilt Converter Tool from
FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($62.45)
MP ($36.30)
Hero (Button) ($54.35)
SB ($70.45)
BB ($81.15)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 10
, 10
1 fold, MP calls $0.50,
Hero bets $2,
1 fold, BB calls $1.50, MP calls $1.50
Flop: ($6.25) Q
, 2
, 5
(3 players)
BB checks, MP checks,
Hero bets $4, BB calls $4,
1 fold
Turn: ($14.25) Q
(2 players)
BB bets $3.50,
Hero raises to $8, BB calls $4.50
River: ($30.25) A
(2 players)
BB bets $4, Hero calls $4
Total pot: $38.25
| Rake: $1.90
Results:
Hero had 10
, 10
(two pair, Queens and tens).
BB had 4
, 4
(two pair, Queens and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $36.35
What I thought on the turn, is that he doesn't have a Q or better very often and if I make a small raise, he will probably make a reraise if he has me beat and I can just fold. I don't want to just call and see a large river bet, especially when there are draws on the board. I thought that I can still get a call from worse as he is a station.
By raising the turn, I made sure that he can't make a large bet with air on the river. The raise doesn't have to be big. As long as it's a raise (unless the opponent has a read on you), it will be very effective.
EDIT: I'm sure you've seen the line where a fish bets small on the turn and pots the river if you call and you are left wondering if they bluffed you. Well, this is how you play against those lines.
Article: Bet sizing post flop
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