Struggling with bet sizing

RLT16

Hi everyone, im sure this has been disccused on the forum before and probably on the show to, but im still really struggling with my bet sizes, im mainly reffering to MTT's here, i think PF ive got my bet sizes ok, i know which hands to raise 2x 3x blinds and which to flat call to see what comes (set mining etc), my issues come after the flop. say i hit for example i have no idea what size bets constitute a value bet, or what size bet to use to scare people away from the pot that may be considering calling to hit one of there draws. and also bluff sizes (not that i ever bluff) but is there a right amount to bluff bet with? not going to lie its all really confusing, i feel my game is coming on quite well at the moment but i feel this is still holding me back massively, any advice will be greatlyful recieved and apprieciated

Edit- or if anyone can recommend any books to read they found particularly usefull or any clips of poker videos i can find online that would be amazing to (i dont ask for much) 

THEROCK573

by the sounds of your post, it sounds like your pre flop raise size depends on your hand strenght, dont do this keep all your raise sizes the same, if your opening AA for a 3x raise then you should do the same with 78 suited.

post flop again dont start betting big with a hand and small with a bluff or vice versa because a good player will figure out what your doing.

your sizing should depend on how wet or dry the board is,

Lambert180

This is very general, but most of your bets are gonna fall in between the 50% and 80% of the pot range.

Firstly, don't bet 1 amount when bluffing and another for value because this becomes very exploitable. Your bet size should be dictated more by the texture of the board.

For instance if the board is 27K rainbow and the pot is 1000. There's no point c-betting massive, it's a very dry board so if you bet 750 with JT and get them to fold, you probably could have got them to fold for 500 too which means you're wasting chips on the times they have a hand. Likewise, same spot but you have K7, if you bet 750 you are making it very hard for people to call, there are no flush draws, no straight draws, most people won't have many 7x and 2x hands in their range for calling a raise pre so you're hoping they'll have Kx or will call a big bet with PPs.

So in summary on that board, bluffs will work more often so do it cheaply to conserve chips, and when you have a value hand yuo're gonna get called by a wider range by going smaller.

In the polar opposite position, the pot is 1000 and the flop comes 89Q (2 hearts). This kinda flop smashes alot of people's calling ranges, there so many 1pr, 2pr, 1pr + GS,  FDs, 1pr + FD, flopped straights etc etc out there. Therefore people will call more, so when you have big draws or big made hands you want max value by betting bigger and equally when you are bluffing, you will need to go bigger because people will have so many hands they want to continue with on the flop with so you don't wanna let them do it cheaply.

This is so general and I'm NO expert but it gives some food for thought. It doesn't account for any dynamics like if you know a player will raise a small bet because it looks weak so you go small to induce a raise and things like that.

Another point to make is that in MTTs which is what you mentioned it for, so much of this is determined by the stage of the tournament, your stack size and your opponent's stack size. Imo as things progress, not only can you reduce your raise sizes pre eventually to a minraise but your post flop bets can also be smaller to get the same job done, as we we are getting more aggressive in the later stages, we will probably be betting without the goods more often than not so again you want to make it cheaper for yourself.

benc

Hey RLT i think i'm right in saying you destroyed me a few times at hypers yesterday lol you definetly seemed to know what you were doing in them. I don't have much to anything to say really about bet sizing obviously just take in the info above, then experiment with different sizing and do what you feel comfortable with.

I have some pdfs related to mtts and other formats of the game, have not read them all myself but would be happy to send some across if you want then. Just pm me an email address

RLT16

thanks lambert that all seems to make sense to me i'll try and take all of that and put it into practice, really apprieciate it, and the rock you are right i did always do that so ill try and take what u said to and avoid making ym hands so obvious now

RLT16

In Response to Re: Struggling with bet sizing:

Hey RLT i think i'm right in saying you destroyed me a few times at hypers yesterday lol you definetly seemed to know what you were doing in them. I don't have much to anything to say really about bet sizing obviously just take in the info above, then experiment with different sizing and do what you feel comfortable with. I have some pdfs related to mtts and other formats of the game, have not read them all myself but would be happy to send some across if you want then. Just pm me an email address
Posted by benc

your right benc although im not sure i had much to do with it, skypoker really had it in for you last night, it was so sick to see at times. i'll send u a pm now THANKYOU!

benc

lol have to expect it sometimes if i'm playing them games regularly very high variance. Anyway i have sent you an email, i hope they are helpful and gl at the tables.

RLT16

thanks mate, same to you!