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Monday 17 October 2011

There are really only three or four ways to select your bet. You can base your bet on the size of the blinds - many tournament players enter the pot preflop with a raise of 3-4 x Big Blind. The size of the pot, all or a portion, (in many cases 3-4 x BB is a pot sized bet), and finally you may base your bet or raise on stack sizes. Which method you select really depends on the situation, and you may even elect to change during a hand.
The major advantage of NL over Limit is the ability to manipulate the pot odds. So it only follows that the best basis for sizing the bet is to bet the size of the pot. In its simplest form, recommended by some experts, simply bet the size of the pot. If you bet the size if the pot, you are always offering a single opponent 2:1 on his money. Betting "pot-size" regardless of your hand disguises your hand and builds the pot. Using this approach has varied play built in and is excellent for the beginner who should only be peddling the nuts and not trying miracle plays.
Betting a percentage of the pot ranging from 30% to 200% of the pot is a good adaptation of the pot sized bet. You can bluff, bet your draw, for a smaller amount, and use call-able value bets with the nuts. You can actually manipulate the pot size to give yourself the proper pot odds for your hand. If you have a good hand you use pot sized or slightly larger bets to punish everyone on a draw since the pot size bet offers them only 2:1. If you elect to use this methodd of bet sizing you must make a conscious effort to vary. You can actually manipulate the pot size to give yourself the proper pot odds for your hand. If you have a good hand you use , since  your play or you can easily fall into a pattern, detectable by your opponents. When you bet the pot every time your play is varied automatically because you bet every hand exactly the same way. 

Hand
Pot
<1/2 Pot
>3/4 Pot
>5/4 Pot
8 out draw
50%
35%
14%
1%
12 out draw
25%
50%
20%
5%
Made hand
10%
20%
50%
10%
Nuts
*
20%
60%
20%
Bluff

40%
50%
10%
 
 
 
when stack sizes are very large compared to the pot size and implied odds have become more important than pot odds. If both you and your opponent have stacks of $1000 and the pot is only $5, a pot sized bet is insignificant for a good drawing hand. You also need a good read on your opponent, or you need to hold the nuts. When you have the nuts, your goal should be, to get 100% of your opponent's stack.
 
 
Hand
Call
<15% stack
~50% stack
>75% stack
8 out draw
85%
10%
5%
0%
12 out draw
75%
15%
5%
5%
Made hand
10%
30%
20%
10%
Nuts

20%
60%
20%
Bluff

60%
35%
5%
 
 

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