Head Games: Thin Value-Bets: Offense and Defense

The Pros: Vanessa Selbst, Chad Brown, and Richard Lyndaker

Craig Tapscott: Please explain how you use thin value-bets to get the maximum value out of a hand.

Vanessa Selbst: A thin value-bet is simply one that you make when you don’t have a very strong hand but are confident that your opponent has a weaker one. Making thin value-bets also makes you more difficult to play against, and enables you to successfully bluff more often, because your opponent must always be concerned that you are making a value-bet with a wide range. 

One example is if you raise from the button with J-J in a tournament and a player calls you from the big blind. The flop comes 9-6-4 rainbow, and your opponent check-calls. The turn is a king, your opponent checks, and you check behind. The river is a queen, and your opponent checks again. At this point, it is very likely that your opponent connected with the flop. While it’s possible that you are beat, it is more likely that he has a hand like 10-9 or 8-8, or any weaker one-pair hand. Although there are two overcards, this is a good spot for a bet with an aggressive image. Your opponent knows that your button opening range is quite wide, and may think you’re merely representing the overcards with a hand that missed, so he may make a loose call. When he calls and sees the J-J, he’ll rap the table and say, “Nice hand,” and now you can start to bluff a wider range.

Chad Brown: To make the proper value-bet, you have to know what your opponent thinks of you, as well as what he is willing to pay. Your image to him is critical to your decision. Some players will call for the right price just to see what you have, even though they know they’re beat. Many players will think you’re bluffing if there is a scary board that was checked to the river, and then you make a small value-bet. They feel they know that you don’t have top pair or the flush, and don’t think you would bet with a small pair. Now, against aggressive players, to get maximum value, sometimes you have to make the right-size bet so that they think you’re betting thin or bluffing. This gives them the opportunity to raise you when they have nothing. The ultimate goal with thin value-betting is knowing that in the long run, there is a profit on your bet.

Richard Lyndaker: The ability to value-bet thinly, as well as maintaining the image of being able to value-bet thinly, is very important for success in high-stakes cash games. In a lot of river spots, I recognize that I will arrive there with a range of hands that contained a lot of bluffs or semibluffs. Against opponents who tend to be suspicious based on recent history, I can get more value than usual with my medium-strength hands in these situations.

Craig Tapscott: How do you combat an aggressive opponent once you realize that he is capable of thin value-betting?

Vanessa Selbst: You should widen both your check-raise bluffing range and your value check-raising range. Don’t be afraid to turn a hand with showdown value into a bluff. In my example above, if you hold 8-8, it may be a good spot to check-raise as a bluff if you suspect that your opponent is value-betting quite thinly. A good example of widening your value range is when you hold A-Q and defend your big blind against an early-position raise. The flop comes 6-3-2 rainbow, and you check-call. The turn is a deuce and you still don’t believe your opponent, so you check-call again. You river a queen. Well, in this spot, an aggressive opponent will value-bet 8-8 to J-J, as well as any rivered queen, such as K-Q or Q-J. This is a good spot to check-raise for value. Once you do that once or twice, your opponent will have to think twice about going for that thin value.
 
Chad Brown: The best way to deal with someone who makes thin value-bets is to raise thin. Keep in mind that this should be done only against good players. Good players will generally make thin value-bets only against players they think will pay off and not play back at them. In limit poker, good players will make laydowns to save a bet if they feel they’re beat after making a light value-bet. Also, a way to combat this sometimes is to even bluff-raise the river.

Richard Lyndaker: There are a couple of adjustments that I like to make against a solid opponent who regularly makes thin value-bets. When out of position, I will try to gain additional value by just check-calling, rather than leading or check-raising with strong hands that are not too vulnerable. It’s especially good in situations where the opponent may fold a fairly good hand without putting much money in if I play aggressively. In position, my technique in battling thin value-bettors is to turn hands into bluffs. Oftentimes I will be calling down with a decent hand that beats my opponent’s bluffs and semibluffs, then decide on the river that my hand is not good enough to call again. If I have very strong hands in my perceived range, it’s important to bluff with my weakest possible holdings sometimes.

In a $50-$100 six-max game with $15,000 starting stacks, my opponent raises to $300 from middle position. I call from the button with 8-8. The flop comes Q♦ 6♥ 5♠. My opponent continuation-bets $500. I call. The turn is the 9♠. He bets $1,300. At this point, he could be semibluffing with a variety of hands: any two spades, 7-6, K-J, K-10, or J-10. I reason that if I call again, it will look like I have at least a queen most of the time, so he will be unlikely to follow through on a blank river with a bluff. Also, I have picked up extra equity with my gutshot draw. The river is the A♥, and my opponent fires again, $3,400. At this point, I have very close to the worst hand I could have. I don’t think my opponent is bluffing often enough for me to call. However, I expect him to be betting with any hand that is K-Q or better. Also, I have a lot of strong hands in my range here; my opponents understand that I frequently flat-call with nut hands in position on the flop and turn when my hand is not too vulnerable and raising would look very strong. This means that I can show up with any set on the board, as well as 8-7 in this spot. It’s also a little hard for me to be bluffing. I would consider such a play with only 7-7, 8-8, 10-10, or a hand like the 7♠ 6♠ in this spot, and I would not pull the trigger all of the time. I go all in for $9,500 more, expecting him to fold any hand worse than 5-5 often enough to turn a profit. ♠

_Vanessa Selbst is a graduate of Yale University. She works as an executive producer at DeucesCracked.com. She won the 2010 North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun main event. She is also a very successful high-stakes cash-game player and a Team PokerStars pro.

Chad Brown is the author of the book Act to Win at Texas Hold’em Poker, and he’s also featured in Deal Me In, as one of Phil Hellmuth’s top 20 players. He is a high-stakes cash-game regular and a Team PokerStars pro.

Richard Lyndaker is a 24-year-old professional poker player. He was the runner-up in the 2008 World Series of Poker $5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em event, for $571,000, and is a successful online high-stakes no-limit hold’em cash-game player. He currently produces instructional videos for leggopoker.com._