Quote:
Originally Posted by bph7
Great book Matthew. One question: I’m still not clear on why the first reason to bet is worded like it is. Like if we have any equity, won’t betting always make the pot bigger in case we win? For example if someone has a set, you know his cards, and you have a lower set, betting would still fulfill condition 1 (it clearly wouldn’t fulfill condition 2 but my point is that I don’t really understand how betting would ever not fulfill condition 1). Is condition one met more if we have more equity (so the “in case we win” chance is higher) or if the opponent is more likely to call (so there is greater likelihood of the pot getting bigger)? Could you give an example of when have some equity but condition 1 would not be literally fulfilled?
As explained several times in the book, it's not a binary thing. Pre-flop especially every time you 3-bet you are going to be denying equity and making the pot bigger in case you win. But that doesn't mean some hands aren't much, much better at achieving these objectives than others.
I'll use a medicine example. For administering drugs, the question isn't usually "Are you in pain?" because that's not specific enough. Instead you ask "On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the worst pain ever and a 1 being just a minor discomfort or irritation, how bad is your pain?" and go from there. Pain is still super subjective, but nevertheless it's a question that's important enough that it can decide how strong of narcotic is given.
If that makes things clearer for you, do the same thing with poker. "On a 1-10 scale, how effective is potting it at denying equity with with Q
Q
on a A
K
3
flop?" Meh, a 2 out of 10? Likewise, "On a 1-10 scale, how effective is potting it at making the pot bigger in case you win with with Q
Q
on a A
K
3
flop?" Maybe a 1.5 out of 10 because you pretty much make all the worse hands fold but you can still hit the set or runner runner the straight?
Ok, well if you gave the two reasons for betting a 2/10 and 1.5/10 score, then the bet (with the given sizing) probably sucked.
Compare that to betting the J
T
on the flop. It's fantastic at denying equity (currently the hand is only jack high), and also if we improve it'll usually be to the flush or straight which makes near the nuts, so our EV will be very very high if we hit. So if we were to ask the same questions as we did earlier and grade them on a 1-10 scale, we'd score it much higher at likely conclude a bet is best.