Value betting is a very difficult part of the game as it takes in a large number of factors – we need to consider our opponents, the board texture, stack sizes and the pot size.

Here is a hand I played recently at 200NL, my opponent was a standard TAG type who was yet to do anything out of line.

SB ($446.95)

BB ($307.65)

Hero (UTG) ($232)

MP ($265)

CO ($200)

Button ($403.55)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Qd Ad

Hero bets $10, 3 folds, SB calls $9, 1 fold

Flop: ($24) Qs, Qh, 6h (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $14, SB calls $14

Turn: ($52) 6c (2 players)

SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($52) 8h (2 players)

SB bets $30?

The flop is obviously a good one for us so we make a standard size bet – even on the flop there are a number of different ways we can approach our bet size.

I can size it small in the hopes of inducing a bluff.

I can size it quite high (something in the 20-22 range) this can give the impression that I am trying to buy the pot since the board is quite scary.

The other advantage of sizing my bet higher here is that the board is unlikely to hit my opponents range so by betting the flop high it gives weight to the idea that I am trying to scare him off the board. In some cases a high bet here is even better than a small bet when it comes to inducing against certain TAG opponents.

When the turn pairs the board I decide to check through the turn – the idea here is that my opponent has air or more than likely a pocket pair of some kind due to his flop call and a bet here is going to push all his air hands and a number of his pocket pairs off the hand.

He bets into me on the river which makes me very happy but also creates a dilemma for bet sizing.

In this hand I actually shoved, hoping to induce a hero call but I believe this was a mistake.

His most likely holding here is still a pocket pair or air therefore by shoving all we do is fold out this range.

The best choice I believe here is a simple minraise, raising even a “standard” amount like to 90 is going to be hard pressed to get a call.

A minraise to $30 however will give us a $112 pot and I can see him using a whole lot of pot odds based decisions in calling off here with a lot of pocket pairs. Occasionally the minraise will also get calls from A high and even better may get the rare bluff shove which is obviously a fantastic result for us.

My shove here unfortunately got folded to, another reminder of how important it is to consider bet sizing on the river here. $30 may not sound like much but 15BB and a huge contributor to my winrate – by identifying these situations over and over again is how we help our winrates soar.