8 Rules to Help You Choose the Perfect Bet Size
Choosing the best bet size is a tricky task in No Limit Hold’em.
There is no one ‘perfect’ bet size that can be used in all spots. The optimal bet size will depend on a number of factors, including:
Preflop action
Board texture
Stack depth
Who has the range advantage
and more
In this topic you will learn eight general rules that will help you choose a winning size –whether it be a 33% pot-sized bet or a huge overbet in any situation.
The 8 Bet Sizing Rules
Rule 1: Increase your preflop raise size when there is a weak player in the blinds.
The main goal for this adjustment is to extract more value from the weak player. Weak and inexperienced players tend to call raises with the same range of hands, regardless of size known as a static calling range.
If the weak player will call with the same range of hands versus a 3.5bb raise as they would versus a 2.5bb raise, you should opt for the former because it will allow you to win more money on average.
Rule 2: 3-bet larger preflop when you will be out of position postflop.
You should 3-bet around three times your opponent’s raise size when you are in position and around four times your opponent’s raise size when you are out of position
When you are out of position, your opponent will realize his equity much more easily, which means you should size up your 3-bets. By contrast, you generally want to use a smaller 3-bet size in position because you want to put your opponent in a tough spot (facing a well-sized 3-bet out of position) with his medium-strength hands.
Rule 3: Bet small (25-35% pot) on dry, static board textures
As well as functioning to get value, bets on the flop and turn deny your opponents their equity when they fold. In other words, you take away their chance of winning the pot by forcing them to fold with a bet.
When equity denial is not important, you are more incentivized to use small bet sizes.
This is often the case on dry boards because most of your opponent’s hands will have little-to-no equity against your value betting range.
Another benefit of using a small bet size on dry boards is that calling ranges tend to be weaker.
Phrased differently: the likelihood that your opponent folds to a bet will be similar regardless of bet size. Why risk betting large with your bluffs when you can get the same result with a smaller bet?
Additionally, small bet sizes work well as an exploitative adjustment against players that fold too often.
This is particularly true in live games and weak online environments where many opponents often play a ‘fit or fold’ postflop style.
Rule 4: Bet pretty large (55-80% pot) on wet, dynamic board textures
When your value betting range is vulnerable to being outdrawn, you should use a larger bet size.
This strategy has two notable benefits:
- Large bet sizes allow you to build the pot when you have a strong hand.
- Larger bets extract more value before the turn or river has a chance to reduce your strong hand to a bluff-catcher.
Rule 5: The stack-to-pot ratio should influence your bet size
Your stack-to-pot ratio SPR is an important factor to consider when choosing a bet size.
You have to think ahead, considering what the size of the pot will be on later streets and how you intend to proceed with your value hands and bluffs.
Many players will bet too large on the flop and turn, and as a result, end up with a tiny bet left behind on the river. Bluffing is extremely ineffective in such situations because tiny river shoves generate little to no fold equity, which is not a desirable situation.
Rule 6: Overbet when you have a nut advantage
Overbets work well on boards that favor your range over your opponent’s range, particularly when only you are able to have the strongest hands.
An overbetting range should also be polarized, made up of only strong hands and bluffs.
Using such a large size allows you to get the maximum with your value hands, and generate maximum fold equity with our bluffs.
The most effective overbet bluffs are usually hands that block our opponent’s most likely strong hands that will call.
Rule 7: Bet at least 66% pot on the turn when firing the second continuation bet.
The most important concept to keep in mind for playing on the turn is polarization.
You want your betting range to be comprised of hands that will be able to value bet on the river very often and hands that have a decent chance to improve to the best hand on the river.
Middling hands, which are typically included in small betting ranges, should be checked for the following reasons:
If the turn checks through, middling hands will be strong enough to bet on the river for value.
- You can use middling hands to catch your opponent’s bluffs on the river.
- Middling hands protect the weak showdown value hands (such as A/K-high) with which you would also check.
Including middling hands in your turn-checking range will allow you to credibly bluff with very weak hands on the river.
This way, all your hands work symbiotically to maximize the expected value EV of your whole strategy.
Because you are using a polarized strategy, your bet size should be bigger in order to extract maximum value with your strong hands and to increase the frequency at which you can bluff.
Using anything less than 66% in the vast majority of cases will just lower your overall EV.
Rule 8: You should usually c-bet between 25-40% of the pot in 3-bet pots
Because the stack-to-pot ratio is so low in 3-bet pots, you can put all your stack in on the river with under-pot-sized bets, even if you start with a very low c-bet size. Furthermore, this bet size is also the one that solvers prefer both in position and out of position.**
Given the ranges involved a small bet usually puts enough pressure on the middling part of your villain’s hands and should make him have a hard time with them.
