23 Dec 2024 Beginner This material is for beginner players bet sizing continuation bet donk bet The continuation bet is one of the most powerful tools in a poker player's arsenal. Whether you're aiming to build the pot, represent strength, or simply apply pressure, mastering the nuances of c-betting can significantly elevate your game. However, not all c-bets are created equal, and understanding when, why, and how to use them effectively is what separates average players from great ones. In this guide, we’ll dive deep into the best c-bet strategies to help you optimize your play. From capitalizing on recreational players' tendencies to overfold, to knowing when to respect a check-raise, we’ll break down the critical factors that influence your success. Let’s go! #1: Overfolding a Lot of C-Bets Heads up, small blind, post-flop, and we'll play a lot post-flop, and that's nice. So this is where our edge is, right? This is where we make the most. And this is like some rule of thumb for c-bet strategy. We need a reason not to c-bet, okay? In other words, c-bet 100% of the time, except you have a reason not to do so. And what can this be? So we'll now take a look at some population reads and some possible exploits. So what is population reads: imagine, you're playing on PokerStars, or Winamax, whatever. And people are playing like a little bit differently on every website and on every stakes. But like the recreational players, everyone is individual and play differently, but there are still some population tendencies. Some things that most of the recreationals are doing wrong, or like doing the same, etc. So these kind of things, we actually want to know, and we’d like to take advantage of them so that we have an unknown opponent. We are not playing a basic strategy, but like an advanced basic strategy - a smart strategy that already takes these population tendencies into account. Recreationals overfold a lot to c-bets. In theory, they should fold normally around like 40 to 45% on the flop. And even regulars overfold, but recreationals overfold far more often. So they will fold in the region of around like 55-57% of the time. And this is a lot. Like you have like a 10% bonus for equity, which is huge. And what's the reason? Why are these players actually folding so much to c-bets? And the main reason is that they are donking. Recreational players don't understand the concept of initiative. I mean, this is actually just some, this concept doesn't really exist, but normally the small range is stronger and therefore we have like the betting lead on most board structures. It is normally just about the ranges, but recreationals, they don't really know what the c-bet is. And the natural response is to bet a lot of their hands when they just have it. So they are donking a lot of mid pairs, bottom pairs and draws. Here and there also top pairs and the lower, the highest card is, the more they are also betting top pairs. So for example, if there's like a K-8-2, they will rarely bet a king, but very often an eight or a deuce. But when there's like 7-6-4, they will bet a lot of the sevens as well, right? So the lower the flop is, the more top pairs your opponents will have in the range. However, if they then check, this makes the range very weak. Sure, they will still have a couple of mid pairs, bottom pairs, draws, because they will not donk all of them. They will have a couple of top pairs, but normally if they are check-calling, they have a lot of like ace highs, king highs, jack highs, some backdoor draws, or some random heads. They're just folding the rest and the calling range is still kind of weak. #2: Don’t C-Bet Without 100% Reason To It This is also the reason why we should actually also mathematically proven c-bet 100% of the time with these type of players. So there's something called node locking. This is pretty advanced and I'll just explain it very quickly. So there's like the game theoretically optimal plays. And this shows how you should play in theory, like the optimal strategy (GTO). However, you can like node lock a strategy. So you can say, for example, to the solver that your opponent is not folding like 45% that you should, but he's folding like 57%. Then he's calculating the best strategy against this opponent, and the solver is almost always doing the same. He is suddenly not c-betting like 50 to 60% of the time, which he should do in theory. He's just c-betting 100% of the time, because this is the most profitable scenario. If you have the c-bet frequency at the moment of around like 70% and you are playing like $5 stakes or below, then you are definitely not playing the maximum EV strategy at the moment. But this is very easy to fix because this is a very easy to execute strategy. That's pretty cool because the most easy to play strategy is also the most profitable strategy. And this is great! #3: Respect The Check Raisers So next point: respect the check raisers because they are very value heavy. But good for us, that they're pretty rare. So like they are check raising in around 10% of the time. And most of the time it is like a strong draw, a top pair, maybe some here and there, some random hands, but overall it will be very value heavy. They are not really check raising some very good backdoors like regulars might do. And so the check rates are not very smart - they are just very straightforward and very value heavy. Even though like you should probably call a check raise with the bottom pair with regulars, you should never do that with recreationals. They will bet the turn also almost always, and they will use a big sizing. So fold your bottom pair, fold your mid pair no kicker. And your top pair probably call one, but if they keep up the aggression with big sizings, they will have you beat. So be very, very careful. Maybe call your strong draws and hope that you hit. But other than that, you should really overfold yet on yourself. #4: Choose Right C-Bet Sizing So last but not least, choose the c-bet sizing according to your hand strength. This is very important because your opponents don't really care what sizing you are using. They are calling anyways, or they are folding anyways. And this is true for a lot of board structures. So as soon as there are some draws possible, for example, like gutshot heavy boards, right? For example, like a Jack 8-5. Here they can have like 9-7, 10-7, etc. So plenty of gutshots - they will call all of them. So if you have been raising preflop and there's a flop like this, and you have a strong hand, then you can actually already bet like three quarter of a pot and they will just call with all of their weak draws. And this is typical for recreationals. They will call way too weak of a hands to way too big of sizings. We need to use this to our advantage. I would really play this straightforward. Like I would just use a very small sizing in a limp pot, always just min betting as a bluff. If you have a strong hand that needs protection, use a 1.5 BB or even like a pot bet sizing. And then you already increased the pot. So if the pot is bigger on the turn, you can use bigger bet sizes on a turn and make more profit there. And then the river is already bigger and then you can go all in easily and you are getting called a little bit more frequently from your opponent. So it all starts actually at the flop. So you're using a little bit bigger sizing on the flop. And this adds up to having a very, very profitable situation where you are stacking your opponent. So yeah, choose the sizing of your c-bets according to your hand strength. But this also is true for your bluffs, right? So you're min raising and there's a very dry board, for example, like a queen seven deuce and you have king ten and in the pot there are four big blinds and just bet one or maybe 1.5 BB as a c-bet. And if you are getting called, you are done with the hand. You actually don't want to put pressure on turns or rivers. Your opponents are not really folding on turns or rivers because if they call the flop, they kind of like the hand and then they don't like to give up on future streets. So just check back the turn and try to go to showdown because you still have a little bit of showdown value. The higher you get in the stakes, the less recreational you will have, but you're still making the most from the recreational. So you need to be able to squeeze them like a lemon. So this is very important and now is the time to learn it. So you will be prepared. GL and see you in the next one!
