betting thin/light?

[veryblind]

I'm still trying to understand all the lingo used on this forum.
Can anyone tell me what it means to bet thin or bet light?
Are these two the same thing or am I confusing them?

I got the impression that betting thin means to bet a mediocre hand for value. If this is the case, what percentage of an opponent's hand distribution must your hand beat to be considered mediocre? It seems to bet a hand for value, it must beat at least 50% of your opponent's hand distribution, though I would consider a hand that wins 30% of the time as mediocre as well.

Any help on clarifying these random questions appreciated.

Sorry for run-on questions. I'm being a degenerate and writing this from work so I may not get a chance to respond/follow-up to comments immediately before thread gets old.

[jessyj07]

value betting thin/light means that you have a hand with showdown value but it's not a very good hand and only very few worse hands can call.

[veryblind]

so what's the value of value betting thin?

suppose you have a hand that wins 30% at showdown on a $100 pot.
you bet $50 which folds out 50% of hands, winning 20% more than you would have if you just checked.

So ev of checking is 30%($100) = $30
And ev of value betting thin is 50%($100)+50%(-50)=$25.

It seems then that the "value bet" has to be either very small with respect to the pot and/or create a very large fold equity.
Realistically, a small bet is going to get called down with the same frequency (70%) so you lose value by betting small.
And if you bet big, then doesn't it turn your hand into a bluff? If so, why is it called "value betting" thin?


...still a little confused.

[shat4brains]

i think the phrase: "a thin call" is used more often it means that your calling with a marginal hand that you think is ahead.
also raising thin is like the decision to shove like 2 pair on the river as opposed to calling