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.
