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Value betting is perhaps the most important weapon in any mid stakes player’s arsenal. As the mid stakes games have gotten tougher, value betting has become more and more important. A lot of money can be won or lost based on how effective your value bets are. On the outside, a $12 bet is not a whole lot different than a $14 bet, but in reality, it can be the difference between winning and losing. $2 is nothing, but 100x $2 is $200. Value betting is about consistency. Smart value bettors don’t occasionally squeeze an extra dime out of their opponents, they get that extra dollar almost every single time. Many players have the fundamentals down in these games, and most have pre flop play mastered. Value betting, however, is still a weak spot for a large portion of mid stakes players. The key to value betting is not systematic, but instead situational. In certain spots it makes more sense to bet half pot than it does to bet three quarters pot. Half pot is a smaller bet, but are you getting any value if your opponent folds? Of course not, extracting value is more important than attempting to get value out of your hand.

Situational Betting

Value betting is not a defined system. If you make three huge bets with a full house in one hand, it might be better to make three small bets the next time you have that same hand. But why? The answer is obvious to some, but a complete unknown to others. Your value bets must coordinate with multiple variables: who you are playing, your hand, their hand, and history. Now, there are even more variables than these, but this is a great starting point. If you know whether your opponent is loose or tight, you can adjust your bets accordingly. Have a big hand against a loose player? Bet it hard. Have a big hand against a tight player? Make conservative bets. Your hand should be obvious, and it is simply an indicator of how much pressure you can withstand, or put on your opponents. Your opponent’s hand is an educated guess, but gives you an idea of what types of bets your opponent is going to most likely call. Your history with a player should make identifying all of these variables that much easier. In small stakes or micro stakes games, value betting is easy to do. Players can make big bets with big hands and make money, but in mid stakes games, intense consideration needs to be given to each and every value bet. This is the problem for most players, the inability to adjust. When you move up in limits, the play inevitably gets better. It is always a good idea to carry over certain skills as you move up, but sometimes areas of your game need to be tweaked. If you can improve your value betting, it is going to be much easier to profit in mid stakes games. With solid value betting, losing players can turn into breakeven players, and breakeven players can evolve into winners. This is how important value betting is. Step back and consider all of these variables the next time you are in a position to value bet.