Bet Sizing: Different Strokes for Different Folks!

  • Published on
  • Updated on

Keep your eyes peeled and look act in a way that it makes your life easier, more straightforward and ultimately, profitable

In last week's article on bet sizing, we went over how the "standard" opening raise has changed over the past few years. In today's aggressive games a min-raise is more than acceptable for opening the betting, but does that mean you should always open for this amount?

In short the answer is no, the slighter longer answer is the famous poker adage of it depends. Although a min-raise (or 2.2-2.5 times the big blind) range may be what your table is currently opening to, what if you have some excellent players left to act or a really bad player? Should you alter your bet size based on opponent strength? I think so to some degree at least.

Last week I played in the $525 buy-in High Roller tournament on Betfair Poker where I am not ashamed to admit I was probably seen as the mark on the table. The only reason I was playing was because I had a ticket to the tournament in my account and thought I would give it a shot. I didn't make it into the money - that is another story - but it did throw up some interesting spots due to me being an unknown amongst the superstar players I found myself surrounded by.

Two seats to my left was Matt Kay, better-known in online poker circles as "ch0ppy," one of the very best online poker players in the world and one who has phenomenal results. Obviously, I did not want to tangle with Kay as he would be able to outplay me, so I wanted to keep any pots smaller against him. Playing against a superior player in a bloated pot is not the best situation to find yourself in because you could be playing for stacks at any point. Anyway, Kay was playing a tight and patient game and I attempted to steal his blinds a couple of times, but when I did it was always for the minimum in an attempt to keep potential losses small.

Whilst I had the High Roller running I was also in a number of much smaller tournaments where the players were terrible in comparison. Here I felt like I had a significant edge over the majority of my table so now I wanted to be playing for big pots against weak players. In one tournament, to my immediate left, was a player who I was surprised even knew how to turn his computer on, never mind play poker! He would call any bet preflop then just check-call down to the river where he would fold if he had not caught a piece of the board, but would call with a hand as week as fourth-pair; he was your typical calling station!

On more than one occasion I picked up strong hands in late position and came in for a larger than expected raise. The table was generally opening for three-time the big blind but I came in for five times the big blind a few times just because I knew fishy McFishyson would call and I would get to play a larger pot with him and in position too. Whilst I may have lost value from my big hands when everyone (including my donkey friend) folded, the expected value I picked up from having the weak player in the pot far made up for it. 

In brief, you should generally raise to the amount your table has been doing but always be aware of the players who are still active. Is there an aggressive three-bettor still to act? Then maybe you want to lower your opening raise because the chances of you being three-bet are high. What if there is a complete fish left to act? You may want to raise larger to play a big pot with them. Keep your eyes peeled and look act in a way that it makes your life easier, more straightforward and ultimately, profitable.

Join Betfair Poker Now

Discover the latest articles