Poker Tips
Why to manipulate bet sizing
In his latest poker blog, Marcus Bateman explains all about bet sizing on different flop textures.
It is possible to manipulate bet sizing in line with how the flop has turned out in all forms of big bet flop poker. This can be invaluable when considering the best course of action in a hand. Weak players often fail to consider how board texture should affect their bet sizing and are taken advantage of by players who manipulate them in situations that they are not spotting.
Small bets are usually required to win the pot if you are the pre-flop aggressor in very dry boards in flop games, such as a Ks7h2c board. Since no real draws are available, it is unlikely that your opponent can have much outside of quite big hands (sets or top pair). This means that a small bet will almost always allow you to find out where you are in the hand, either giving you the pot or seeing how much your opponent has.
On the other hand, draw heavy boards, such as a KhQh7s, often warrant much more sizable bets, as not only are you trying to price out hands that may be drawing, you can also typically represent much stronger hands as there are so many more possibilities that hit your likely range.
You need to remember, whenever you think about board texture and bet sizing, the sorts of boards that you want to be trying to build big pots on. With very dry boards, your opponent will either have a hand or not, meaning that you will build a big pot pretty much regardless of your flop bet sizing. Consequently, betting smaller makes your life much easier (and cheaper) the times when your opponent does not have a hand. On the flip side, draw heavy boards make it much more likely that your opponent will have something, and as a result provide much better opportunities to bet big and try to force a mistake.
The true beauty of big bet forms of flop poker is in the ability to change your bet sizing. This lets skilled players force many more mistakes from their opponent than they would be able to in limit games, and understanding where and why to modify your bet sizing is so important to being successful in big bet poker.
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