Q&A #78: Big Hands Deserve Big Pots

Ed, I totally agree with this post. Slowplaying sets like this is endemic at low buy NLH and it allows thinking opponents to escape.

It’s worth repeating something that I’ve seen in a few different places: The vast majority of players would be better off if they never slowplayed another hand again in the rest of their poker careers.

By betting 8 bb into a pot of 21 bb, author is giving his opponent over 3.5 to 1 odds should he be on a flush draw. Should the later hold AQc he would probably call. From this standpoint, Ed
s larger bet would protect his hand better, but risks him not getting called & not getting the most from his set. I seem to encounter this situation a lot, where betting to protect my hand risks not getting max payoff from my big hand. Any thoughts?
Bill

Bill,

I wouldn’t look at it as protecting your hand. To some extent, it is. You do want to get rid of the pesky little draws who are only going to give you a lot of action when you are redrawing to the FH.

Your right that big bets cause you to lose some action. It’s a trade off. You’re looking to price in high card hands and bait draws into semi-bluff shoving. In the latter case, a hefty flop bet sets the pot up for them to shove while you are still ahead. Sometimes you stick in a big bet or a big raise and get no action. In that case, the only thing you’ve really lost is a bet on the end. In return, you get to build a pot big enough to get 100-150 BB in the middle.

Todd

Ed

great article. I think most of us get weary of always hearing “always bet a flopped set” and “never slow play”. Thanks for giving a concrete example where and why this generally accepted advice holds true.

I think a lot of us novice players forget to put our opponent on a range of hands once we hit a monster. “Let’s make a small bet and hope he improves enough to commit on the turn” is probably a very popular way of thinking under this scenario.

If we took the time and effort to put our opponent on a range of hands, quite often we will find there are very few cards that will come on the turn that will improve Vilan enough to entice them to call us. Most of the time they would have followed us in anyways…

Great Post as usual Ed…

I really appreciated the artlcle too - I’ve also fallen into the trap outlined by Jeff of making pathetically small bets hoping to get a call rather than a fold. And if I’ve been outdrawn I can’t help feeling that it was exactly what I deserved! Reading Ed’s thoughts on the hand is a nice way to see the logic behind getting your money in the middle sooner rather than later. I connected especially with the fact that by making a good sized bet it does actually hide the strength of your hand. Since reading it I’ve had a couple of occasions in short-handed play to make the most of the advice and it’s worked a treat.

Much appreciated words Ed, as always.