Flop bet sizing (1 Viewer)

BukNaked36

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I enjoy watching a few of the poker vlogs, Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen probably being my favorites. In their cash games, I’ve noticed a lot of flop bets of ½ pot or smaller. It also seems like I see flop bets of roughly ½ pot in tourney poker.

This seems to be contrary to my initial reading/training – I think primarily in Theory of Poker. The rule there being - overcharge your opponent for draws and every call they make is a negative expected value mistake. Based on this, I'm typically betting 3/4 pot or more on the flop.

Generally, what are you typically looking to bet on the flop? Why? I feel like I'm missing something with these smaller flop bets.

If a hand example helps, say –
1 / 2 game – hero has $200 and new to the table

Folds to Hero in CO. Hero has :ac::kc: and raises to $10
Button calls
BB calls

Pot $31

Flop – :ah::td::7h:

BB checks,
Hero bets $25 is standard for me

What's your bet size and why?
 
In that specific spot, I'd c-bet 25% $15 (1/2-pot), 50% $20 (2/3-pot), 25% $24 (3/4-pot). Never betting less, and never checking....
 
While I enjoy a lot of poker vlogs, the reasons of why and how they bet on flops really is moreso because of the stack depths considered.

Anything 100bb or less you should be pounding pots with good value bets with top pair, top kicker or better on the flop. Anywhere from half pot to 80% so that you can charge the draws the incorrect amount to call as well as being able to leverage the rest of your stack on the turn and/or river.
 
2/3 of the pot, $20. I am happy to win the pot right there and I want anyone that decides to chase to get getting an incorrect price the the next card.
If someone has exactly 9h 8h they have 15 outs and are a 55/45 favorite to win after two cards.
Just about anything else, other than a hand that already beats you, and they are about 2:1 dog.
 
Like the answer to any poker question, it depends.

In your example, holding :ac::kc: with a :ah::td::7h: flop against one player out of position and one in position, I am likely betting about 3/4 pot, maybe even more, depending on the players. However, slightly tweak the flop to :ah::td::7s: against the same two players, I’m probably dropping it to 2/3 pot since I’m not facing a flush draw.

Take the original :ah::td::7h: flop against one player in position, I’m probably betting 2/3 pot. Against a player out of position who just checked to me, I may bet anywhere from 1/2 pot to 2/3 pot, depending on how strong I believe the villain is and how capable she/he is of check-raising me with a strong hand (or bluff). However, the same two options with a :ah::td::7s: flop probably get 1/2 pot bets.

There is nothing wrong with varying your bet sizes based on the texture of the board or your opponent’s strength or likely holdings. You just don’t want to vary it based on the strength of your hand.
 

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