Purposes of Betting

Knowing when to bet and how much to bet is one of the key skills in poker. In order to figure out when to bet, it's imperative to understand the different purposes of betting. The first part of the article will deal with that question. After that we will discuss bet sizing.

There are 4 different reasons to bet:

• To gain value (value bet)
• To protect your hand (protection bet)
• To bluff (Bluff bet)
• To gain information (information bet)

Betting for value and protection

These two reasons often appear at the same time. When you are ahead of your opponents, bet and get called you get more money in the pot as a favorite. Putting money in the pot when being ahead gains you value. Similarly, before the river it is possible to be ahead and still lose if your opponent hits a draw. If you make a bet and your opponent folds, you protect your hand from getting outdrawn.

Combined value and protection bet

Suppose you got and are on the button. You raise and both blinds call. The Flop comes down . Both opponents check. Now it's your turn. You should definitely bet. You are ahead most of the time. If opponents call, you gain value by increasing the size of the pot. If the opponents fold, you protected your hand from being out drawn.

If the Small Blind calls with (flush draw) and the Big Blind folds (bottom pair), then you are ahead against the opponent that called. Therefore your value bet was successful. Also you made one player fold. You would be even happier if he had called with his weak hand. But if he folds it's also fine.  If a   or a will hit on the turn or river, you will be very glad that you got rid of the Big Blind.

Bluff bet

If you have a bad hand and think there is a decent chance your opponent will fold if you bet, you should consider bluffing.

Here is an example for a bluff bet:

You hold . You raise before the flop and only the big blind calls. The flop is . The opponent checks. You have nothing but there is a decent chance your opponent has nothing either. Therefore it's a good idea to make a bet in order to get him to fold. Suppose he has a hand like or . Those hands are better than yours but will often fold against a bluff.

Information bet

It's very tricky to bet just to get information. A lot of beginners and intermediate players attempt to do this way too often. The problem with betting for information is that you will often either get information that you can't use very well or you would get as much information by checking. Usually you only want to make an information bet if the bet has an additional purpose.

A bad information bet

An opponent raises before the flop from middle position. Everybody else folds and you call with from the big blind. The flop is . You do have top pair and a gutshot, which is a decent hand, but it's very possible that your opponent holds an ace with a better kicker. You could bet now and "ask him the question if he has a good ace". If he raises he either has you beat or he is bluffing. If he calls it's unclear if he has a better hand than yours or not. If he folds he apparently didn't have a valuable hand.

So what did you learn? If he raises you might be ahead but are forced to fold. If he calls he might still have a better ace. And if he folds you have excellent information that you can't use because the hand is over. Your bet doesn't really serve a purpose and it's better to just check.