Bug's Poker Tip #38

Bet only for value or to bluff.

There only two primary* reasons that should cause you to bet in poker.

The first is for Value. This is when you believe your hand is best. When you're betting for value, you want a villain holding a worse hand than yours to call. You want to bet the largest amount you can that will get called by the villain**.

The second reason is as a Bluff. This is when you believe your hand is worst. When you're betting for value, you want a villain holding a better hand than yours to fold. You want to bet (i.e., risk) the smallest amount than you can that will result in the villain folding**.

That's it; two reasons only. For example, you should never bet for information. You should not bet to probe or to "find out where you are in a hand." True, these are often beneficial consequences of betting, but they should never be the reason you're betting in the first place. 

We bet only for Value or to Bluff in poker. Period.

All-in for now...

-Bug

*Actually, there are occasional secondary reasons to bet in poker, such as for isolation or blocking, but these are relatively rare occasions. Value and Bluffing should make up 95% or more of your betting (and raising).
**Technically speaking, this isn't quite accurate. You actually want to bet the amount that maximizes your expected value in a particular situation. But thinking in terms of betting the largest amount that will get called by villain (when betting for value), or betting the smallest amount that will get a fold (when bluffing) is usually pretty close to the ideal.

Easy Game

I'm currently in Spain on the first leg of a hellish two week long biz trip that will literally take me from one side of the globe to the other, with twelve-hour time zone changes. To ease the pain a tiny bit, I brought a copy of Easy Game (third edition) by Andrew "Baluga Whale" Seidman with me on my Kindle to read in jet-lagged stupor.  [Click here to see the book on Amazon]

I had previously skimmed copies of the first two editions of the book Seidman wrote back in 2009 and 2011, but picked up this one after reading a bunch of reviews that said he'd rewritten and re-thought many of the major sections of the book. This rewrite was done after he (in)famously had a big meltdown in the high stakes games, going on a few hundred thousand dollar downswing, retiring from poker, and then coming back to it and winning again. He recognized that the game had gotten a lot tougher in recent years, and in fact strategies that had once worked profitably were no longer valid.

Anyway, I've read just the couple first chapters, and I have to say this is indeed an excellent book. Very detailed and very no-nonsense in nature. Also, he explains the "why's" as much as he does the "what's," which I always appreciate in a good strategy book.

The first chapter is a good example of this, with Seidman describing why we bet in poker. He echoes what I've preached herein this blog for years; i.e., there are only two valid reasons for betting in poker: Value or Bluff. We do not bet for information, nor do we bet for protection. Those are indeed often secondary and beneficial consequences of betting, but they should not be the reason that you're betting.

Seidman also repeats another thing that I've stated repeatedly here: at the micro- and low-stakes games, we should be primarily making our money by value betting, not bluffing. He argues that the reason for this is that humans are naturally curious people, and want to see if they've won at a showdown, even when they think they might be beat. Ergo, you should press the accelerator betting pedal whenever you think you're ahead (i.e., for Value). Bluffing should be minimal, and only against good, thinking players who are capable of letting go of better hands. (Bluffing however becomes much more important at the mid- and high-stakes tables, where your opponents are less likely to make calling mistakes and/or stack-of with a second-best hand).

Now back to being jet-lagged. Sigh.

All-in for now…

-Bug