How Much to Bet in Poker

Hey, I’m Nicky Numbers, Professional Poker Player and today I’m going to show you how to bet.

When you’re betting, by definition you’re on the flop, turn or river. In other words you’re post-flop and the pre-flop action has already taken place.

The reason this must be true is because pre-flop the blinds are forced bets so nobody can bet pre-flop. You either call, raise or fold.

Post-flop, however, the first aggressive action that anyone takes is a bet. Either that or they check.

The minimum bet that you can wager is one big blind. So if they blinds are $2.00 and $5.00, the big blind is $5.00 and the minimum bet is $5. If the blinds are $500 and $1,000, then the minimum bet is $1,000.

The minimum bet, however, is an amount that should rarely be wagered. A standard bet is between half the size of the pot and the full size of the pot.

So let’s say these green chips are $25 and there’s $100 in the pot right now. A standard bet for me to make would be $50 to $100, and in this case anything in between which could be, you know, $75, would be 3/4rds of the pot, $50 is half the pot, $100 is the whole pot. Anything in between would all be considered a standard bet.

The thing that you want to know about betting, however, is that you want to keep your bet sizing consistent relative to the pot. If you vary the size of your bets based on the strength of your hand, then you could be giving your opponents very meaningful information.

For example, a classic mistake that players make is they bet more with weak hands and less with strong hands because they’re trying to get action on their strong hands.

People also do the opposite, though. The key is to make your bets consistent so that no data can be inferred by your opponents with your wager.

So there are some basic guidelines on how to bet in Hold ‘Em. Remember, you want to bet consistent relative to the pot so you don’t fall into patterns.

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