Poker players might find themselves in a bit of pickle if they don’t exercise caution while placing bets. In this vein, bankroll protection is all the rage. In order to achieve max value for your hands, you’ll want to work hard to get as much cash out of your opponents as possible. But you’ll also want to work in such a way as to maximize the protection/payoff ratio. Incorrect applied value and protection wagering can land you in hot water. The best way out of it is to apply a set of constructs that maximize your betting options.
How to Apply Value Betting to Terrific Poker Hands
We can define value betting as a betting strategy that seeks to extract the maximum possible value out of your opponent. What this means in simple lingo is that if you’re holding a great hand of cards, you’ll be wanting to bleed the entire table of active players dry and cash up in the process. Let’s take a classic example of a big punter who’s holding a pair of ladies – queens – as hole cards. This punter would feel pretty content with a pair of queens even before the flop, turn and river cards. But it’s not over until the proverbial fat lady sings.
Things to Consider When Attempting Value Betting
Look at your position at the table. This is most important. If you’re sitting in first position then you will be unwise to act first – even though you’re compelled to. If you’re in middle or last position then you’re well set to have a greater chance of making good on value bets. This is because you’ve seen quite a bit of betting activity going on before you. Continuing from where we left off would see a QQ and the flop, turn and river yet to follow. The ladies would serve us well against most hands, but it’s not a guarantee of a winning hand.
A player who may be holding pocket Kings would certainly be able to outplay the player holding the Qs. If the player holding the ladies wasn’t milked to the final card – the river, then value betting didn’t take place. That is why it’s imperative that the player with the good hand extracts as much as possible from the player with the poor hand. Ideally it should go down to the wire – and then the reality should hit that value betting took place.
At the very least, the player holding the better cards would make sure that the turn and river bets were milked too.
Protection Betting is a Little Different but No Less Entertaining
The classic story of a Las Vegas player who was involved in a cash game is always going to resonate with poker players. There were 4 trodders and a seat 7 player in a game of poker. The player in question was holding a 6 and an 8 of spades. In total at this point there were some 16 bets in the pot. The flop was looking innocuous but potentially lucrative at 3c5h7c. Players would check and minimum bet until 24 big bets were in the kitty. The turn reflected a Qd. All players checked until the seat 7 player made 2 big bets. A call brought the pot to 30 monster-sized bets. The river was a 9d. The player with the pocket Aces had gone all-in and lost to the player with the 6,8 (spades)5h, 7c and 9d – a rivered straight. Tips to take from this are the following:
- Take out protection bets
- Tone down the massive raises pre-flop
- Make pre-fop raises of 4 to 6 bets
- Get gears before you go full throttle
It has been said that ‘The art in Protection Betting keeps these thieves from stealing the smaller pots from under you…’ In this vein it’s imperative to think long-term, thin the playing field, milk it for what it’s worth and go for gold.
