Hello ,

Newbee here.

How do I count bets on the turn and river? I know the bets double but do I continue to count in small bets?

Please advise

no, you switch over at the start of the turn. just take half of the small bet potsize and now you have the big bet potsize

so if the pot is 12 small bets after the flop, then now on the turn it's 6 big bets. if someone bets, then there are now 7 bets in the pot and if it's your action then you're getting 7:1, etc

welcome to the forum!

To be honest I've always found it easier to count to size of the pot.

You must not be a true poo flinger. Counting bets is so much easier than trying to count the pot. Counting the pot adds an extra step because you have to do the conversion to figure out your pot odds.

Someone raises, someone calls, we call the big blind and go to the flop 3 ways with $110 in the pot. The flop comes and we check, raiser bets, caller folds and it's on us. 110+20=130, so there's 130 in the pot and we have to call 20. 20 goes in to 130 6.5 times, so we're getting 6.5:1. Same scenario except we're counting bets. The pot has 5.5 SB in it, raiser bets, caller folds and it's on us. 5.5+1=6.5, so there's 6.5SB in the pot and we have to call 1. We're getting 6.5:1.

This.

For those who play live, when do you start counting the bets? Do you count "one" in your head as soon as the first person limps, "two" if they raise, and so on? Or start with the BB as "one," and discount the SB as rake / jackpot drop?

I find counting from the beginning to be awkward, but waiting until the preflop action is over, then looking around the table quickly and adding up the bets, is also awkward. The bets get scooped into the middle by the dealer too fast, and people put their hands over their cards and hide them. Easy to miss, especially if you are in the 1 or 9 seat.

Count the number of people who see the flop and multiply by the number of bets.

Add 1 if the BB folded. Ignore the SB if the half bet is going to throw you off. Ignore the rake if that's going to throw you off.

You don't need a perfect count. It's unlikely that you'd make a different decision based on 6.25:1 odds versus 6.33:1 odds, and if that 0.08 bets matters, congratulations, you're awesome at poker.

I can't recall ever counting the pot as the bets went in, I'm a 'big pot/small pot' thinker. But if I DO feel it's necessary I use the method that police use to estimate the size of a crowd: Count a group in a small area and multiply by total areas. That works for me.

I start counting beginning with UTG, as the bets go in. Starting with the turn, I divided the small bets by two, to get the big bet count. After a while, it becomes second nature. I find that by doing it this way, I have an accurate count of the pot.

Its easier to always count the pot in dollars, less steps at a poker table is always good

And like another poster said.. if you are off by 1-2.5 small bets in a big pot, its going to have a negligible impact on our decisions

In a small pot its easy tofigure out how much money went in

Thanks for all the great responses, guys. I'm going to experiment with several of these methods the next time I play. I've been playing off and on for many years, and when I first tried to count the pot during a hand, I found it nearly impossible. It's gotten easier as other aspects of the game have made more sense to me, but I still find it difficult. Ideally I'd like to wait until all the preflop action is finished and then get a count, but so many people put their hands over their cards, or hide them behind their chips, that this doesn't work too well for me. I do know I feel much more on top of my game when I know what the exact pot odds are, especially when I have second pair, a gutshot draw, or overcards. I am kind of out to sea with these hands when there is flop action and I don't know how many bets there are.

I think one of the greatest things about LHE compared to NLHE is that you don't have to go to the trouble of counting the pot. So much easier. If you just count the bets you automatically know what odds you are getting.

Subtract 1 of you're in LA because that's how high the rake is now if you're playing below $20/$40. In small pots, that can be the deciding factor in continuing in marginal spots.

It gets easier the more you do it. Eventually you'll find that it's automatic.

OTOH, this lack of knowledge leads to some egregious errors in big bet games (ex: dude overbetting AK on a board like Q74-A-7, betting 40 into 160, etc).

LHE is a great time to practice counting a pot before making a decision, but it's definitely more important to know in a game where you're focusing on error magnitude over error volume.

My actual method is typically to start off in big bets in games that actually routinely require counting bets.

It helps to get used to common situations.

"This pot was raised preflop and I flopped a pair....never fold for one bet, probably call 2"
"the pot is uuuuuuge Joe Tall Optimal Strat (calling all bets while at the pisser)"

Things like that. 10,000 hours and such.