Reasons to Bet in Poker Strategy

Hey all - I'm going to kick off my first poker strategy article on reasons to bet in poker. This is actually a short chapter in my latest book I'm currently writing, which I haven't settled on a name yet, but is a comprehensive micro stakes cash game strategy book. 

I hope you enjoy it! If so, let me know and I'll keep them coming. I won't be posting most of the chapters in my books,, but probably some and also the plethora of poker strategy articles and videos I've created over the years. :-)

Introduction

If you've been playing poker for any length of time, you've probably heard lots of different reasons for betting. Common reasons I've heard throughout the years are the following: 

• "I'm betting my hand." 
• "I'm pretty sure I have the best hand." 
• "I'm betting to see where I'm at." 
• "I'm betting, so I don't get sucked out." 

While some of the reasons above are somewhat valid reasons for betting, none of them are truly a primary reason for betting in poker. In fact, there are only two main reasons for betting:

• Betting for Value 
• (Semi) Bluffing 

Yes, there are several other valid reasons for betting, but betting for value and (semi) bluffing are the two primary reasons for betting in poker. We’ll first discuss these two main reasons and then discuss some valid secondary reasons for betting in No Limit Hold'em (NLHE). 

Betting For Value

The first reason for betting in poker is to bet for value, commonly called value betting. Betting for value occurs when we bet the best hand knowing our opponents will most likely call with a worse hand. The goal is to get our opponents to call with worse hands. What this means is we shouldn't always be betting the best hand. Instead we should only be betting if we think we can get called by worse hands. If betting with the best hand causes our opponents to fold, then our value bet is a failure.  

This is why "betting the best hand" is not the same as "betting for value." Lots of beginning poker players make the mistake of thinking the two are one in the same. It does us no good to bet the best hand if all it does is make our opponents fold. The premise behind value betting is to extract value. If betting the best hand isn’t extracting any value, it isn’t a good value bet. 

There are a lot of situations where we should slow-play the best hand to encourage our opponents to bluff or to give them a free card to help them improve their hand, which we’ll be discussing when we dive into the intricacies of post-flop value betting later in this book.  

Two Types of Value Bets

There are two different types of value bets, strong value bets, and thin value bets. A strong value bet is when we have a very strong hand where we are unlikely to be beaten by a better hand. An example would be flopping two pair, a set or better. 

On the other end of the spectrum are thin value bets, where we’re betting mediocre strength hands that will sometimes win and other times lose. With thin value bets, we understand we won't always have the best hand. Our goal with thin value bets is to get our opponents to pay us off with very weak hands, hoping we get called by worse hands more than we get called by better hands – making our thin value bets profitable in the long-run. Examples would be top pair with a mediocre kicker card, middle pair or worse. 

Bluffing & Semi-Bluffing

Bluffing and semi-bluffing are the second reason for betting in poker. When we bluff, we’re trying to get our opponents to fold a better hand by leveraging a concept called fold equity. Fold equity is the likelihood that you expect your opponent to fold when facing a bet. The higher a person’s fold equity, the more often we expect them to fold. 

There are two different types of bluffs in poker, pure bluffs, and semi-bluffs. A pure bluff is when we are betting or raising with pure junk with the sole purpose of making our opponents fold a better hand. A semi-bluff is when we bet or raise with a strong drawing hand such as a flush draw or open-ended straight draw.  

The purpose of the semi-bluff is two-fold. The first is to make our opponents fold, while the second is to build the pot for when we hit our draw. So when we are semi-bluffing, we are utilizing a combination of our opponent’s fold equity and our drawing hand equity, as shown in the diagram below. 

Bluffing Plays Minor Role at Micro Stakes 

Bluffing won’t play a significant part of our tight aggressive strategy at the lowest micro stakes, such as 2nl up to 5nl, because of two different reasons. First, the rake in these games is extremely expensive – making bluffing an expensive endeavor. Second, bad recreational players typically hate to fold at these stakes. At 2nl through 5nl, we’ll rarely be purely bluffing without any drawing hand equity; however, we’ll be more than happy to semi-bluff hands with a lot of drawing hand equity in hopes of building big pots against calling stations with monster draws for when they hit. But as we move up in stakes, where rake is less expensive, and people are more prone to fold, we can more effectively begin to incorporate pure bluffs into our game. I'll be discussing these strategies in detail later in the book.  

Secondary reasons for Betting

Now that we’ve talked about the two primary reasons for betting in poker, let’s discuss two fundamental secondary reasons for betting: 

• The Protection Bet 
• Making Our Opponents Fold Their Equity Share 

The Protection Bet

If you’ve ever watched any of my training videos, you’ll often hear me say, “I’m betting for protection.” The protection bet is a unique bet in the fact that it can either be a value bet or bluff. Sometimes we want to make our opponent fold and other times we’re okay with them calling.  The goal with the protection bet is to protect our hand from bad cards on the next round of betting.  The easiest way to explain the protection is through some simple examples. 

Example Hand #1: Protection & Clear Value Bet

We flop the nut straight with J♣ T♣ on a K♥ Q♥ 9♠ flop. While we have the best hand on the flop, our hand is vulnerable to a lot of bad turn cards. If any of our opponents are on a flush draw, a heart on the turn is very bad for us. Moreover, if any of our opponents have a gutshot straight draw that will complete with a jack or a ten, both of those cards are bad for us because we’ll no longer scoop the entire pot but instead chop it. Lastly, if any of our opponents flopped a set or two pair, a king, queen or nine could complete a full house on the turn.  

For these reasons, we not only want to bet or raise for value on this flop, but also for protection. This is a protection and value bet. In this particular situation, we can bet for value and expect to get called by a lot of worse hands. So we are value betting the best hand that is vulnerable to getting sucked out on by lots of strong drawing hands on later streets in the game.  

Our protection and value bet extract value from worse hands, but also protect our hand by giving our opponents a bad pot odds price to call (we’ll discuss pot odds later in the book). If our opponents call, it’s okay because they’re making a mathematical mistake, which benefits us in the long-run. If they fold, we’re also happy because we win right then and there on the flop.   

Example Hand #2: Protection Bet & Potential Bluff

We raise pre-flop with 3♠ 3♣ from UTG and get called by the BB. The flop is K♥ 7♣ 2♦. BB checks, we fire out a continuation bet and BB folds. 

This is a situation where our protection bet is neither a clear value bet or a bluff. We bet this flop for the same reason as the last hand. Most turn cards are bad cards for our particular hand; however, our perceived UTG open-raising range includes a lot of Kx hands, so it’s highly likely that we’ll fire out a continuation bet on this flop with Kx hands. When we bet this flop our goal is to utilize our perceived strong open-raising range as well as initiative in the hand to make our opponent fold better pairs, as well as hands that can make better hands than ours such as JQ and AT.  

What’s unique with this protection bet is that against certain hands it’s a bluff, where we try to make better pairs fold, such as 7x and 66-44 fold. Against other hands, it’s a thin value bet, where if we get called by over cards such as Ax and Qx Broadway hands that don’t improve on the turn, we still have the best hand but also extracted thin value on the flop.  

But our goal is clear in this particular situation – try to make our opponent fold, whether they have a better or worse hand. This leads us to our next secondary reason for betting, making our opponents fold their equity share of the pot.  

Making Our Opponents Fold Their Equity Share

When our goal is to try to make our opponent fold their hand, whether we are thin value betting or bluffing, we are not only betting for protection, but we’re also betting to make our opponents fold their equity share of the pot. What does this mean? Every person in a hand has an equity share of the pot, which is their fair share of the pot based upon how often their hand expects to win by if a hand goes to showdown.  

For example, if we are in a heads up pot and we are a 70% favorite, our opponent will only win 30% of the time. If there is $100 in the pot, then the equity share of the pot is $30: 

• Villain’s Equity Share: 30% Chance of Winning x $100 Pot = $30 

In our previous example hand with pocket threes, we are not only betting for protection but also to make our opponents give up their equity share of the pot. If we are betting with the worst hand, then we’re making them give up a majority equity share of the pot – which is an excellent result for us. The key take away from this concept is that whenever we’re betting as a bluff, our goal is to make our opponent give up their long-term fair share of the pot. This, if it works enough can increase our win rate drastically.  

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