Texas Holdem Guide to Value Betting

When you feel you hold the winning hand you want to extract as much money from your opponents as possible; you want to bet for value. In other words you want to maximise the value of your hand, therefore increasing your win rate.

When I first started playing poker I found myself making a common mistake that a lot of beginner players make. Once they hit a monster, they suddenly try to slow play the hand. Instead of betting or raising they starting checking and calling. The reasoning behind this is to try to trap opponents, making them put money into the pot. However all that is happening is they are missing opportunities to get money into the middle. Rarely will you slow play a hand and manage to get all your opponents money into the pot. Players fear by betting or raising that they will scare the players out of the pot, and this is definitely not something you should be worried about. If you can’t get any money out of your opponent you probably would not have been able to anyway.

The key in the situation where you hold an extremely strong hand is to take every opportunity to get money into the pot. Do not be afraid your opponent will fold. Also do not be frustrated when you bet or raise and your opponent folds. If he folds you would not have made any money out of them anyway. It’s a much better option to take the risk of making a lot of money than slow playing a hand and missing the opportunity when your opponent does actually catch a piece of the board.

Another common mistake novices will make is when value betting on the river. When they think they have the best hand on the river they will often bet small because they don’t want their opponent to fold and would rather get a little extra money than none at all. It is true that the larger the bet is the more likely your opponent is to fold however, this is not the way you should value bet on the river. They will call less when you bet larger but by betting larger you will win more in the long run, rather than betting smaller and getting more calls.

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