Full House
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 605
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Before saying anything else, let me just join everyone else in saying that there is nothing wrong in using the same bet size - if you assign a pattern to your bet sizes it is a pattern people might be able to understand and then suddenly you are playing with your pocket cards plain to see.
That said - on the topic of varying bet sizes:
In one of those selections of 'pro tips' I saw one from Phil Gordon where he suggested to vary bet sizes based on position - where he bet 2.5bb or so from UTG up to 4bb or so from the button. His basic idea I think is to play a smaller pot out of position than in position.
Similarly I often see people suggesting that if they re-raise they re-raise to 3x the previous bet if they expect to be IN position and to 4x the previous bet if they expect to be OUT of position.
If you use the same bet size always you are probably making a small error in the worst case and you are much harder to read.
If you do choose to vary bet sizes - don't do it based on your cards - ever.
Couple examples. Let's say I've noticed that when I play AA or KK people often fold the blinds to me. I want calls. When I play JJ or TT people often call me and outflop me so I end up losing money. To 'fix' this I bet my AA and KK 2.5bb and my JJ and TT 5bb to get more calls on my AA and KK hands and fewer calls on my JJ and TT hands. All other hands I use a normal 4bb raise.
The first couple of times I vary my bet sizes as described I note that I've managed to manipulate my opponents responses in exactly the way I hoped. I get fewer calls on TT and JJ and I get more calls on AA and KK. Yay me. However, before long people will have taken notes - and now they KNOW that if I play 2.5bb then I have either KK or AA, they take a cheap flop and only continue if they have a hand that is better than an overpair or a strong draw to improve to something better than an overpair - and they can play their hand completely optimally knowing exactly what I hold. Now when I have AA EVERYONE knows it and I will only win small pots and lose big pots with it. By varying bet sizes I make AA, KK, JJ and TT all much less profitable (or more unprofitable) because it is so painfully transparent.
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