The Importance of Bet-Sizing in a Game of Online Poker

June 18, 2020 23 0 0

A game of online poker can be fun and equally tricky to crack. Unlike any other card game, poker is a skill-based game that tests your expertise truly when you don’t have the cards. This is where your betting strategies come into play. They can make or break your game altogether. 

If you have just begun playing poker online, you will need to learn and acquire some effective betting techniques to outsmart a different kind of opponents because more than often, even if you got a good hand, the way players size their bets can heavily affect your results. 

Let’s begin!

Betting Strategies in Online Poker

Staying informed on your opponents is key to winning in online poker. Since there are no poker faces and tells to give away when playing poker online, you must strictly rely on figuring out specific betting strategies to crack your opponents no matter what cards they are holding.

This brings us to proper bet sizing so that no matter what goal you have in mind for the current hand, be it value betting or getting your opponent to fold, size it in a way so that your end goal is achieved at minimum cost. 

Here’s a list of few powerful betting techniques to use according to your goal in your next game of online poker. 

1. When You want Your Opponent to Fold

Suppose you got a medium-strength hand and you raise pre-flop. Your opponent calls and so wish to make a continuation bet to raise your pot equity without giving away the fact that you still haven’t hit anything big. 

You do not want to make huge bets here by risking too many chips. Bet minimum, for instance, 2/3rd or half the pot instead of risking too many chips. This will get the job done in almost any game of online poker as most of your opponents will fold smaller bets just as they will fold to a large bet.

If any opponent is hell-bent of calling you, he or she will call no matter what bet you size. This way, you save money when you get called.

2. When You want Your Opponent to Call

This means you got a good hand and wish your opponents to call and help you grab as many chips from them by eliminating any future possibilities of your opponent’s hitting a better hand by the turn or river. So, what do you do?

You value bet to the max. Not the whole pot! However, something close opposite to the1st strategy. You value bet to the highest amount you believe your opponent is most likely to call. 

Betting a large amount when playing poker online can be a sign of bluff for your opponents or the assumption you have drawn to the nuts, so this implicates the importance of knowing your opponents well enough to figure out their tendencies and betting patterns in online poker games so that you know exactly how to size your bets accurately.

3. When Your Opponent Sends Mixed Signals

In a game of online poker, the variance is common and frequent. Let’s take this common yet tricky example most of you must have come across more than a few times. Your opponent takes the lead by raising pre-flop but doesn’t bet post-flop. This could lead to three possibilities.

• Your opponent missed the flop and doesn’t intend to put in more chips 
• He/she has hit a big hand and is slow playing to trap you
• He/she has hit a medium-strength hand and afraid you might have hit a better hand

Online poker games are blind on face value, so, we need to discover the reason for your opponent’s weakness for which we need to make a probe bet. In a probe bet, one typically bets 1/3rd of the pot right after the flop is revealed to probe for more information and assess his move. This could either make you win the pot immediately which means he has missed the flop or has a weak pair. If he/she calls you, it means he is either slow playing you or waiting to hit a big hand. Act accordingly.

4. When Your Opponent Goes All In

When an opponent goes all-in with his chips, this leaves you with only two options- match his bet or fold immediately. Perhaps, one of the trickiest situations you will find when you play poker online, so what do you do?

The best way to avoid this is to make the first move if you have a premium pre-flop hand or got the nuts. This way you force your opponent to either fold or beat you. If the situation is reversed, then you are in your opponent’s shoes. 

In pre-flop, if your opponent goes All-in, you match only if you got premium hands like AA or KK and have a good chip stack that’s enough to keep you in the competition or else fold immediately. If you face an All-in post-flop, evaluate all the cards and compare your draws to your opponents and make the move.

Takeaway tip: Once you have played enough hands and figured out the betting patterns of your opponents, start varying your bet size bit by bit to confuse them and keep them guessing making it hard for them to read your game. 

It’s time to use these strategies on your next game of online poker and win BIG. So, let’s find you one of the best online poker rooms in India today.

PokerBaazi: One-Stop Room for Unlimited Online Poker Games

Online poker room in India, PokerBaazi has been a rapidly growing hub for players of all measures and stakes to test their skills and build a thriving career in poker. The opportunities are superb for learners and transitioning poker players who are looking to build their game and inflate their bankroll from scratch. 

Here’s a list of some interesting online poker opportunities where you can test run these betting strategies this month on PokerBaazi.

Freeroll Tournament	Prize Pool	Date & Time	Deposit  Amount	Deposit Code
50K Depositor’s Freeroll	50K	Tue, Sat, Thurs 9PM	INR 200	DEPFR50K
1LAC Depositor’s Freeroll	1LAC	Mon, Wed, Fri at 9PM	1K	DEPFR1L
10LAC Weekly Depositor’s Freeroll	10LAC	Every Sunday at 9PM	5K	WKFR10L
25LAC Mega Depositor’s Freeroll	25LAC	14th June, 9PM	10K	MEGAFR25L

So, there you go, start working up your game today with such incredible opportunities and become a more confident player in this nail biting rat race of online poker. 

All the best!!!

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