How much is a value bet?

[dynacraze]

On the river when your pretty certain you have the best hand and your opponent looks as if he has maybe top pair with weak kicker or 2nd pair, whats a good amount to value bet?

I heard 1/2 the pot is good but that shows like you just have it and looks like a sucker bet to your opponent even though he needs to be right 1/3 of the time to call. Would 1/3 of the pot be too small to value bet?

What's the range in proportion to the pot is the value bet?

[piebear]

Depends. Basically as much as you think your opponent will call. Sometimes you needn't even bet. If you think he was on a draw and wouldn't call a river bet then check for the chance that he'll bluff.

But it's a very general question. Go play a few hands, get one that you think you need help on and post it in the nl section.

[DigitalDeuce]

Value betting is very situation dependant..so there is no "rule of thumb".

That being said, while it'd be great if everytime you could bet that perfect "max" that your opponent will call, but this just doesn't happen.

The best way I find to value-bet is by making sure I'm in control of the pot, by either open-betting or raising/reraising (or folding!) and just calling when I have odds (multiway pot or villian underbets).

[teh_mewse]

piebear has it exactly right. On the river, position is hugely important. If you're oop, and you're fairly certain your opponent was on a draw, check to them unless you're very very strong. If you value bet at someone you think was drawing, they either fold (confirms your belief they were drawing) or they raise you. And no matter how certain you are that they were drawing, being raised on the river is never fun with a hand you would be value betting in the first place.

Checking on the river with your marginal hand ensures that either he'll check back and you'll take down the same pot with lessened risk, or he'll bluff (quite frequently) and his bluff bet will be MUCH easier to call than if he was bluffing as a raise.

[pzhon]

If you bet 1/2 of the pot, your opponent is getting 3:1 odds, and so he only needs to think he is good 1/4 of the time to call. You needn't feel that a 1/2 pot is a sucker bet, though. It's quite substantial in a big pot. The natural bet size is usually less than the pot, particularly on the river.

You need to understand your opponent's calling range. As always, this depends on the opponent, but it also depends on what has happened earlier in the hand. If you have screamed that you have a powerful hand from preflop onward, it might be harder to get paid off with one good pair. If your actions and the board suggest that you might have a busted draw, you will get called more frequently.

Don't make the common mistake of trying to maximize the probability of a call. The amount of money you gain matters. Of course, you also want to avoid betting so much that you are behind on average when called, or even getting close to that amount (excepting blocking bets out of position, which is not a beginning subject).