Sizing Bets on the Flop and Turn to Set Up a River All-In
Here's a fun hand from a $5,000 no-limit hold'em event from last summer's World Series of Poker, one that illustrates the importance of proper bet sizing when betting for value.
The blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante, and began with a loose-aggressive player on my right raising to 800 from the hijack seat. The raiser had about 15,000 to start the hand and I had around 50,000 when I three-bet to 1,900 from the cutoff with A?6?.
I discuss below how in lower-stakes events with more passive players I might consider just calling in this spot with this hand, but in this $5K event with mostly strong players I'm either folding or raising.
It folded back around to the hijack who called, and the flop was great for me, coming J?6?4? to give me middle pair and the nut-flush draw. My opponent checked, I bet 2,000, and my opponent called.
The turn then brought the 6? to give me trips, and the hijack checked once more. There was 8,850 in the middle and my opponent had about 11,000 behind.
I'm definitely betting, but when making this bet I want to be sure to size it correctly �� not too big (and cause him to fold here on the turn) and not too small, either (and enable him to get away from an all-in on the river).
Take a look at what I did and how the hand played out:
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,500,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
