The Secrets To Maximizing Your Value Bets

Maximizing value bets is one of the most crucial skills for increasing your long-term poker profits. In this article, we’ll reveal key strategies for extracting the most chips from your opponents when you have a strong hand, ensuring you make the most out of every opportunity.
Bet More Rivers
This is one of the most basic ways to get more value in poker, which is why it is so staggering how many players get this wrong.
Over the last couple of years, I can only think of two river value bets I did where I seriously wonder if I was value betting too thinly. I got raised off both river bets. There’s a good chance that I got bluffed in one spot. The other player I’ve played with more since that time, and it turns out he’s solid and uncreative. It’s unlikely he turned a hand into a bluff, but who knows? Maybe he ate his Wheaties on that particular day.
The other nine quintillion times I bet the river for thin value, my opponent did not even consider raising as a bluff. They saw it as a binary decision. Do I call with my mediocre value hand, or do I fold?
Most of them chose to call, because most poker players play emotionally. Calling a small bet and mucking your cards face down doesn’t hurt much, but folding to a small bet and then being shown a bluff is humiliating. They call down too much hoping to avoid second-guessing themselves for the rest of the night.
However, it must be stated that 90% of your job is table selection. If you’re playing against players who can use blockers on the river to raise your thin river value bets, then you can likely find a softer game elsewhere. Most local cardrooms will feature primarily recreational players. If you cherry pick what poker sites and buy-ins you play in, you’ll also find mediocre players.
If someone checks to you on the river and you’re fairly sure you have the best hand, bet. Most of these players do not bluff enough. They might do a bluff raise when they’re pissed off, but that’s it.
You are not value betting enough rivers until you accidentally value bet the second-best hand.
When In Doubt, Bet One-Third Pot
I have lost count of the number of times I’ve gotten overly excited with a big hand and shoved all-in. My stunned opponent, who clearly played his hand like he had a mediocre pair, folded quietly and wondered why I did something so stupid. I totally gave away the strength of my hand.
Our hand is easy to play in no-limit hold’em. It’s right in front of us. Our opponent’s hand is the hand we need to play. That’s the art form.
Don’t look down at your huge hand and believe you’re automatically entitled to huge value. If your opponent has been check-calling on a board with flush draws and straight draws, it’s likely they just have one pair. They would have been tempted to raise earlier in the hand with two pair and sets to protect their hand and simultaneously get value from it. There’s not many combinations of sets and two pairs to begin with anyway, and there are not many of them when they would have raised earlier in the hand with some of them.
Since you know you’re targeting mostly crappy pairs, you have to think of a bet size that they won’t fold those hands to.
Another way of thinking about this situation is this: What bluff bet would NEVER work here?
It’s unlikely you would have missed your draw and thought to yourself, “quick! Bet one-third pot! That will get him to fold a pair!
If your opponent stopped to think for a second, they’d realize you almost always have it when you bet small on the river. However, that’s not how casual players and bad regs think. They see a one-third pot-sized bet as essentially zero.
If they call that bet with a mediocre hand and turn out to not have the best hand, they’ll feel next to nothing. It’s not that many chips. However, if they fold, they’ll have to wonder for the rest of the night if they folded the best hand. Most players will call just so they can sleep at night. They’re paying for certainty.
Do They Have Top Pair? Bet Bigger!
Let’s say the board comes A-2-4 rainbow. You have A-K offsuit. They called you out of the big blind.
When you fire the turn, you are going to want to bet bigger than 50% pot. If you overbet, they might consider folding their mediocre ace, but if you bet 50% to 100% the size of the pot, they’ll feel stupid about folding top pair.
This is a great situation for you, because it’s unlikely your opponent called preflop with many twos or fours. Their most likely hand is some kind of mediocre ace. The average player HATES folding top pair. As long as you don’t bet something absurd, they’ll likely find a call.
Did A Draw Miss? Bet Bigger!
You raise from the cutoff with A-K offsuit. The button flats you. The board comes K♥ 7♥ 4♠. You continuation bet, and your opponent calls. The turn is the 2♣.
This is your chance to bet larger, something between 50% and 100% of the pot.
Why? When your opponent flats you on the flop with a king or a seven, they’re rooting for no eight, three, or heart on the turn. When they see that absolute brick on the turn they’re thinking, “excellent, that card couldn’t have helped him.”
It will be difficult for them to downshift from that positive feeling to, “whoa, what the hell is this larger bet?” They already wanted to gamble and call again.
Trying to get recreational players to fold the turn when all the draws missed is immensely difficult. They’re likely to say, “I bet he has a draw! I call.” You can use their gambling bias against them.
Avoid All-Ins And Overbets
One final note. There are only two bets your opponents feel they need to take seriously. Those two bets are all-ins and overbets.
You need a great reason to use either of those bets versus common competition. They need to be tilted. They need to likely have a huge hand they can’t fold. They have to already be pot committed.
If you don’t have a great reason to use either of these intimidating bets, you can often use a smaller bet to get maximum value.
Conclusion
Maximizing value bets means taking advantage of key situations, such as betting more on the river and increasing your bets when you suspect your opponent has top pair or missed a draw. When in doubt, a one-third pot bet often works, but avoid pushing for all-ins or overbets to maintain consistent profits without risking their folds. ♠

Alexander Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and bestselling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist. He has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was the $250,000 Guaranteed on America’s Cardroom. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in Ignition tournaments while he listens to death metal. Free training packages of his are provided to new newsletter subscribers who sign up for free at
www.pokerheadrush.com