Value Betting your way to More Profit
In no limit holdem especially heads up you want to have your money in the
best hand at all times, but you also need to place your opponent under some very
difficult decisions. You want them to face a choice of risking it all and allow
you to keep your chips. You want to make them feel a real threat of being forced
into a hand based on what they have left in chips and what it will take to call
the bet. Doing this makes them come to a quick decision of calling you and not
completing their hand making them a almost pot committed to call another bet
ultimately an all in or folding and saving their hide from what could be the end
of their game.
Lets look at one example of where you apply force to your opponents decision
making.
Your playing a NL heads up hold em Sit n Go and hold Q-J in BB, with you
opponent, only calling his SB so of course you raise the hand with him calling
behind you. The flop comes down with Q-10-7 and he checks again leaving you to bet
another round. The turn is of little to no use to either of you giving a 5 so
again he checks and you bet and once again he calls. Now you need to stop here
and wonder why is he calling. What cards could he have that would make him want
to see the flop and only check call? In most cases this will be a draw which
means you need to add value to your bets if you want to win these hands. If you
opponent is playing on a draw which we think he is than you need to be the one
that puts him on the spot to decide if that last card will be worth his chips.
Even if he has all 8 outs available to him, forcing him to risk a hefty portion
of his stack with only one card to come should invariably be a folding decision
on his part. He should value his own chips more than calling for one card to
come. This is how you vague bet and what it means to do so. Make the underdog
pay for wanting that card.
Another meaning for value betting is the exact reverse as what is above. A
player who is drawing to say a nut flush straight draw can easily call bets for
value or in a ,multi way pot place the best themselves knowing they will get
called. This provides them with control of the game and adjusting the speed they
want it played at. You can do one of two things depending on the situation at
hand but if a player bets to you, you have the option to re raise him and hope
this will allow you to slow him down as well as give you the odds to call or you
can lead out in hopes of increasing the pot and your odds.
Value betting takes a lot of concentration on reading hands, pre flop, flop,
turn and river. Every street players see you should be clueing into what has
happened and your surroundings. Than ask yourself what and why. What happened on
each street will give you a process to evaluate, next ask why your opponent
would call and what hands could that mean. Allowing yourself to process each
step will give you a better read on your opponents. An easy way to think of it
is each action is part of a story line. You need to read through the entire
thing to find out what the end result will be and the same holds true in poker.