All right, from what I remember from my studying, here's the best reasoning I can come up with to answer these questions:
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Originally Posted by PaulyJames200x
So there is also the discussion of when pot is multiway, you need to bet small. So let say a player with 50bb raises in EP. Let say he has AA. He gets 3 callers in mp, button and bb. Flop comes K J 8 rainbow. This is still a wet board even though it is rainbow right? Always recalled when flops contain cards are between Q to 8, it is wet because it hit players range. So here the max you should bet is 50% and even that is too much? Let say all the other players have 50bb to make it simple. It seem like 1/3rd pot is the standard here but when you do this, you are giving great pots odds to everyone. Sure you keep ranges wide but now you are giving others a good chance to outdraw you. So say you get 2 callers. If the turn is a blank such as a 2, then you bet real big then as is 3/4 pot? Seems like players bet 1/3rd pot flop and then go big on turn and river etc.
Yeah, I think the last part is correct. Part of the reason you bet smaller on the flop with certain boards is that you can then follow up with your whole range on a good turn and blast villain off their weaker continues, making more than you would if you sized up on the flop and got a fold. That's more applicable to heads-up, though, especially raiser vs. BB defense. Multiway you don't want to c-bet light very often if at all. But, yeah, in this scenario I would say it's good to bet the flop smaller and then fire big on a blank turn. (The other option, depending on your depth, is to go for a check-raise, if your stack depth is such that you're comfortable getting it in with the overpair.)
Don't forget villains will have some strong hands, too-- KJ, 88 and sometimes JJ-- and you don't want to make a bet sizing where villain's continuing range has too high a percentage of hands that beat you, because that will put you in a really difficult spot on future streets.
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Originally Posted by PaulyJames200x
Also with preflop, I believe Daniel Negreanu mentioned something like preflop raise is 2x unless its deep like 200bb. Think he said with that stack size you 2.5x. But does anyone here think that is still too little? Thing that is strange is Little mentions you should raise bigger preflop when deep but in some videos he would 2x or 2.1x when 80bb deep which is completely against what is said earlier?
Generally there isn't much EV difference between 2-2.5x. 2.2x is my broad standard; I scale down to 2x under 25BB effective or late in the tournament; I scale up to 2.5x when we're deep-stacked and I'm raising from the button.
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Originally Posted by PaulyJames200x
Also I recalled in a video he mentioned how when you raise preflop and get called. Let say you have 99 or j10o to make it simple. Say you are 40bb deep and so is the other player and say they are BB. You min raise and they call. When flop comes 8 7 2 with 2 of suit to make it simple, I recalled he mention after BB checks, you should bet big as in 3/4 pot or close to pot. That is what you should be doing here? Think he said with 99, you most likely have the best hand now but it is vulnerable with this board as it is a wet board which makes sense. He then says bet big on turn and river as well. So basically no matter what cards you have here... you should be betting that big on flop? I mean you suppose to do that with AK or 55 as well? I mean... with 55... that would seem to be a check because it is medium strange hand? But then again if you check, you give tons of free cards and not much turns are good for you there so seems better to just bet and take it down if you can? Also can't imagine betting that big with 88 or 77 since well you have a monster even though there is a flush and possible straight draw possible. I do get his reasoning with doing this with J10o since you have 2 overcards and a gutshot and with aggression, you can take it down on flop or turn etc. But then in some videos of his, his bet sizing goes against what he says.
Generally you want to try to play all your hands similarly on early streets, especially against good players, rather than splitting your range by value. If you always check 55, 7x, and overcards with no straight or flush equity, but you always bet overpairs, 8x, and overcards with straight and/or flush equity, you're going to tell your opponents too much about your hand. The big reason you can bet this flop big is that this is a dynamic board in the sense that what qualifies a strong hand is likely to change significantly. In other words, top pair doesn't figure to remain top pair for long, not to mention the straight and flush draws. You bet big because there are a lot of cards you can use on the turn and river to continue pressuring villain, and you want to be able to put them in a difficult spot of not knowing say, when the 8d 7d 2s board runs out Js and Kd, whether you're just turning 55 or QsTs into a bluff, or you've been betting Th9h, AdQd, or KK this whole time. (And in position you always have the option of checking back that third street if you have enough showdown value and you don't think worse hands will call.)
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Originally Posted by PaulyJames200x
So if you raise preflop with AA or AK and flop comes like K Q 10. This should be a small or medium or big bet size on flop? I mean you have raise advantage and nut advantage. But your opponents usually have a draw or non nut hand here. Now this differs a lot if flop is K Q J?
Assuming you're talking about a pot with BB defending: If I recall correctly, you go small or medium here because your equity runs close to villain's calling hands, so you don't want to hit the gas and build a big pot now. Villain's range is going to be split between zero-equity hands that fold to any bet (i.e. 76s and that sort of thing) and hands whose equity is close to yours, and those hands aren't going to fold to a bigger flop bet anyway (QJ, KJ, that sort of thing). So you keep the pot small for now and if the turn bricks or hits in your favor you can bet bigger. You're also protected more against check-raises if you bet small-- what's your plan if you bet pot with AK on KQT and get check-raised?
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Originally Posted by PaulyJames200x
Also does anyone recall about the thing with the ace flop such as not all ace high flops are the same? Such that if it comes a 2 8 rainbow, that is dry board so 1/3rd pot size make sense. But if it comes like a 7 8 rainbow even, that is still dry right? But if it is 2 of a suit, that is wet so you need to bet big on that? Then again, I thought the rule was you don't want to bet more than 50% on the flop at the max so the flop texture completely goes against this?
There's certainly no rule against betting bigger on the flop than that if you're deep enough. (I scale down my range of bet sizes once I'm shorter or it's deep enough in the tournament to use the implied pressure of ICM to achieve the same effect with a smaller bet.) I most commonly c-bet 1/3 pot, but I have a range of boards where I bet 2/3 pot, and I have everything in my arsenal from minbet, 1/4 pot, 1/3 pot, 1/2 pot, 2/3 pot, 3/4 pot, 90% pot, pot, and a couple of overbet sizes as well. You don't want to follow any hard-and-fast rules if they prevent you from using the right tool for the job.
In this specific example: If you bet small on an A87 flush draw flop, villain is going to be able to continue with not only a lot of second and third pairs but also a lot of hands like JT, probably even like 54s with a backdoor flush draw, and that sort of thing, and you haven't narrowed the range enough to know what's a good or bad card for you. You want to fold out the weaker portion of villain's continuing range and you want to charge the good draws the maximum. You can then still blast away on brick turns, preventing them from seeing two cards. (Some of the stuff I've gotten into suggests even an overbet c-bet is fine if you're sufficiently deep.) At least, I'm pretty sure this is correct-- admittedly, I feel like I'm not 100% dialed in on what BB's proper calling or check-raising range is here vs. a 2/3 pot or pot c-bet.
Again, assuming PFR vs. BB defend, you can also bet big on boards like AKx because your range has the AK, AA, KK, and all the other strong aces, and the BB's doesn't because they didn't 3-bet. (If you're raising from EP, it's more likely they just defend AQ than 3-bet it, but at the same time your range is tighter as well.)
I do want to say a lot of what I've said here is assuming you're the preflop raiser vs. a big blind defender. Being out of position and against a range that's calling without closing the action or getting the price the BB is is going to change how you play a lot. (Most notably, you should simply c-bet less often, although there are a lot of spots you can check-raise if villain bets the flop after you check.)
I'll add that perhaps the biggest key point to take away from all of this is that
your flop c-bet frequency and sizing should be based on the flop texture and how your raising range and the BB's defending range interact with it, rather than the strength of your specific hand.