Value betting, when and how?

[Repsychler]

I swear I searched and did not find anything on the basics of value betting. Mainly I need to know when do you value bet and how do you calculate how much to bet for value?
Thanks in advance.

[Jolle]

Decide the hands opponents are going to call your bet with. If there are enough hands in that range which you beat, a value bet is probably worth it. As for the amount, I mostly pick the higest amount that still is going to get called by worse hands a fair number of times. There's one exception to this: Don't give your opponents the odds to draw out on you. If you have to choose between betting so much that your opponents will fold, or betting so little that they will call with the odds to draw out on you, choose the first.

[AbreuTime]

Most novice players do not value bet well, preferring to check and see if they won. Look through hands in the strategy forums in the left sidebar. Post a hand where you checked the river with a good hand (and won), and you may be surprised at people telling you the river is a must-bet.

[UnaBmb3r]

Value betting is a crucial part of the game and most ameauters and begginers do not do. You need to get paid for your good hands, you have to learn how to maximize your profits.
I think that it all depends on who you are playing and how they are playing at the moment. If they are loose and are stuck and steaming then you must know how much you can bet to make him call and be behind or drawing dead, you dont want your opponents to fold.

[Bona]

Value bet when you are ahead and expect to win the pot more often than you will lose it.

As presented your question is far too broad and spans multiple concepts. A simple example of a value bet is raising AA preflop. You do that because you believe your hand is best and is likely to stay best often enough for it to be a +EV (expected value) situation. From there it devolves into more complexities but basically you bet for value when your hand can reasonably be expected to take more from the pot than it puts in.

There are a number of concepts you should look into that will help define your questions. There are starting hands charts that estimate the value of your pocket cards. There are books and articles that teach what situations to play and why- that will help you know when you are in a +EV situation. Click on "Books" in the sponsored forums column on the left.