Betting for Beginners Part I

The Pre-flop

Since poker is a game of logic it would be foolish not to start with the most obvious betting round, pre-flop.

This is probably one of the most basic skills in No Limit Hold’em but, despite this fact, there are still some people who fail to perform this skill properly. The standard rule for betting pre-flop is to raise it up to either 3 or 4x the big blind.

For example, we look down at our cards and we see pocket aces; great. So, assuming we’re not having a mental breakdown, we’re going to be playing this hand and 9 times out of 10 the best way to enter the pot is going to be to raise. Why shouldn’t we limp, surely having the best pre-flop means we want as many people in the pot as possible? Wrong.

Any pre-flop hand, even aces, is extremely vulnerable when the pot is multi-way and even without running some EV calculations it should be clear that the more people in the pot, the more chance you’ve got of getting outdrawn.

The best way to boost your expectation with your good hands is to bet pre-flop. The reason for this is two-fold: firstly it increases your EV by limiting the number of hands you’re up against post-flop because (majority wise) the most optimal situation post-flop is to face one opponent.

Secondly, it gives us more value for our hand. If we deem our hand strong enough to raise then surely we want to make as much money as we can from it. By raising it up we force the limpers and the calling stations to put in more money with their weaker hands, this in turn allows us to win more post-flop.

How much should we be raising? The general rule of thumb for most players is 3 or 4x the big blind. Any more than this and you risk scaring away all the fish; any less and you’ll have the whole table chomping at the bit to join you.

As a general guide, when the stacks are shallow, opt to keep the pot smaller pre-flop and make it 3x BB; this is perfect for a tournament scenario when your relative chip value is more significant.

When the stacks are deeper, such as in a cash game, then 4x BB is more suitable because it will give you more opportunity to get maximum value for your hands. To develop this rule further we need to account for the time there are limpers in front of us.

In these circumstances we need to make our raises bigger; if we were to stick to our 4x BB when there is two limpers in front we would be offering players behind us a much better price to see the flop.

Therefore, in order to discourage players behind us calling with marginal hands we need to add 1BB for every limper. Thus, if the blinds are 1/2 and a player limps under-the-gun we need to make our raise 8+2 = 10.

This will be sufficient to scare the fish behind us and make it so we can get as much of our opponent’s stack as possible.

Now we’ve navigated the post-flop waters it’s time breakout our continuation betting weapons. C-betting is the best way to continue your pre-flop aggression and get the maximum value from your hand. But before you start c-betting every flop there are some considerations you need to make:
 
It is much more profitable to c-bet against one player than it is against many. In heads-up pots you should be looking to c-bet a much higher %. This is because it is much less likely that you will run into a strong hand against one player than you are against several.

Flop Texture

Flop texture is another consideration. Flops can be described as wet or dry depending on how many draws and scare cards they contain. The archetypal dry flop is one that contains only one high card and two low cards (which contain enough gaps to make a lot of straight draws improbable).

The flop should also be a rainbow flop, or a flop containing all different suits. A wet flop is one that contains a range of connected cards and suits and makes a large number of draws possible.

What could my opponent have and how often do they fold to c-bets? If the flop looks like it has hit your opponents range and you’ve missed with your hand then it’s much better to check.

Similarly, if your opponent is a calling station and never folds the flop, or they are the type to float you on the flop, then checking may also be the best course of action.

In Part II of "Betting for Beginners", we explore the concepts of value betting, bluffing; and how to bet on the turn and river.