No-limit Texas Hold'em Poker - The Art Of Betting

In the poker variant of no-limit Texas Hold’em, there are two distinct art forms that rise above all the other skills you will need to be successful over the long run. These are, respectively, the art of bluffing and the art of betting. Let’s look at the latter of these two, because even the most devastatingly deceptive table image and ice-cold command of all your tells will not amount to much unless you have a firm grasp on what bets are smart to make and what bets are sure losers. For the purpose of specificity, we will focus on one particular type of bet which is absolutely indispensable to have in your arsenal of information. This is known as value betting.

An Example Hand

Let’s say you have Ace/King in late position, and you decide to open raise. The big blind, who is a fairly tight player, decides to call. The flop comes out Ace/Queen/5. The big blind checks, and then you bet. And then he calls. The big blind checks to you again. You decide he probably has a weaker Ace than you, so what do you do? Bet again, of course. The river produces a 5, making a pair with the last card on the flop. The big blind again touches the felt. Now the action is on you. Do you bet the river?

Make Them Pay

This is where the issue of understanding the value bet comes into play. In a game of Limit Hold’em this would be an absolute no-brainer. But we are talking about a no-limit situation, in which the pot can reach astronomical proportions in a New York minute. So what do you do? Don’t get cowed by that pile of chips! Now is the time to work your opponent over the coals. Never give another player in this situation the luxury of a showdown without paying for it. What you want to do here is wager an amount that will really grab him by the short hairs (let’s just assume your opponent is male for the sake of decorum).

If you communicate you don’t want to be called, you just might get that big bet on the river paid off. The trick is that you don’t want to make it look like a value bet - even if it is! If you get called, that’s just fine. You’ve earned yourself some good money. If you don’t get called, that’s perfectly acceptable as well. Don’t show your cards! Instead, just casually rake in the chips and let your opponent savor the exquisite agony of wondering (to no avail) if he was just bluffed out of a sweet pot.

Working Together

So, as you can see, the opening paragraph of this article presented something of a false dictum: that bluffing and betting are two separate entities when properly wielded in a game of no-limit game of Texas Hold’em. The truth is that a value bet will often employ an effective bluff - if and when the cards demand that strategy. When assessing how to proceed with a value bet in any given situation, it’s incumbent upon you not to impose any predisposed notions upon the hand, but to react spontaneously to whatever comes up in the deal.