What is a value bet to the newbie? How do you make a value bet? How can you smell out the value bet? This should seem easy but if you are playing the game well some of the value bets can also be used to bluff. I would like to know who said that a player has to be all in with the
best hand. If they do this all the time they will never make money when they have the nuts. The value bet is a great trick to have in your poker arsenal. I have seen countless players play poker and on the river when they finally hit there flush or their gut shot straight just go all in. All the players at the table fold and say nice hand. It is so easy to see that the player finally hit his card. This player only ends up with a little pot and could of had a lot more chips just by the value bet. Let's say you have the nut full house like ace king and the board is king jack king on the flop of course you check. The turn is an ace all of a sudden a player makes it 4 times the blinds so you just call here. The river a 10 a player goes again 4 times the big blind. So now you go into acting mode and try to put the player on a hand. The only hand that will beat you at this time is pokcet aces. Highly unlikely for the player to have aces here. More likely the player is a bad player and hit a straight on the turn. Or maybe king 10 on the river a full house. So now you are stuck with the value bet decision. How much do i bet so the player will call and i do not make any more money in this hand. Well the player made it 4 times the blind so on a 1 2 game that would be 8 dollars and total in the pot with the blinds would be around 35 dollars so i would bet 10 dollars here. Why so little u ask. Well the player made it 4 times the blind so with this small bet is a value bet you want him or her to call because you have the best hand in your mind. You bet 10 dollars into a 35 dollar pot and they have to call if they have a straight in their hand. This also leads into letting them think they have the best and a big raise is coming from them when you bet 10. They make it 50 do you raise or just call. Here i would call because for the slim chance they have pocket aces you have just out played them in this hand. No need to raise when you could be beat. So you just made 10 dollars more in a pot because you value bet or even 50 dollars more in a small pot because you value bet and did not go all in. The value bet in my eyes is just a bet that gets you a little more chips in the pot. The pot is only 25 dollars a 5 dollar bet gets you 5 more dollars from the player. The player is getting 5 to 1 odds so of course he calls. I would not do this value bet with middle pair it can hurt in the long run. The value bet is usually saved for when you think you have the nuts in the hand. IE quads and a straight flush and also the nuts in the hand. The quads of course are easy to slow play and when you raise on the river it looks like a big hand. So you just have to min raise them or if the board is 7 7 3 and you have ace 7 the turn a ace the river a 7 of course you will get paid off because no one is folding the nut full house to quads for 25 dollars lol Ok now i have totally went off course here. The way to smell out a vlue bet is just watch a table. One player will bet and bet all the way through the hand the river the player that has just been calling the whole time will just make it 5 times the blind. IE 35 dollar pot makes it 10 dollars on the river. The player is getting 3.5 to 1 so they call. The bad news they lose the player had the nut flush from the flop. To smell this out is see how the hand progresses. If a player is just calling you down hes on a draw or has a monster. Do not let emotions cloud your judgement you can lay down a hand it will not kill you. The value bet is great to make money at the tables. Use this tool well and get bigger pots for you.

may you have big pots,
diesel@learnpokerfromthejoes.com