In low-limit live cash games, in fact, you'll frequently see opening raises of 5x or more as players try to cut down on callers. A preflop raise that is 3x the big blind in a cash game is often on the small side, while in tournaments such a raise is relatively speaking going to be bigger than most. In no-limit hold'em cash games, you'll often find players making larger preflop opening raises than happens in NLHE tournaments. You can even begin to memorize common postflop situations to make figuring pot odds easier - e.g., a half-pot bet always yields 3-to-1 pot odds to call. The reason why postflop bets are referred to according to their relation to the pot is it helps with calculating pot odds. The bet size is described as 'half-pot.' If he'd bet $35, that be referred to as a bet of 'three-quarter pot' if he bet $50, that be about a 'pot-sized' bet and so on. On the flop, the first player checks and his opponent bets $25. Let's say after that $23 reraise it folds back around and the original raiser calls, making the pot $49 total. When talking about postflop betting, amounts are often spoken of instead in terms of how they compare to the size of the pot (and not in BBs). You could say the reraise is 11.5x the BB, or more likely you'll say the reraise is nearly 3x the initial raise. For instance, after that $8 raise, a player reraises to $23. The next reraise might also be spoken of in terms of the number of big blinds it represents, or (more commonly) it will be described as it relates to the original raise. From a strategic standpoint, what matters here is the size of the raise being four times the big blind, or '4x' the BB. For example, in a $1/$2 cash game (where the BB is $2), a player opens with a raise to $8. When discussing preflop bets, we typically speak of betting amounts relative to the size of the big blind.

How to Describe Bet Sizesīelow we'll get into some of the important distinctions and factors that affect bet sizing, but first let's briefly cover how to talk about bet sizing - or at least how the topic is normally discussed. In live poker, especially, players often give away a lot about the strength of their hands simply by the size of their bets. Watching both closely - and keeping in mind patterns being exhibited - can help you a great deal when trying to narrow down the possible hands a player might have. In our last tip covering ' 5 Common Poker Tells to Look For' we ended with a reminder to new players not to concern themselves too much with looking for tells, as it's usually better to focus on betting patterns than what opponents are saying or doing.īy betting patterns we mean both when players tend to bet and how much they bet.

Limit holdem poker strategy