So I just figured out last couple of days I have a serious problem with my game on the flop and I try to completly re - learn the game in this spot.

So it's obvious that the higher my betsize the more bluffs I can have and the lower my betsize the more value I need.

On the other side, the smaller my betsize, the wider villain is going to call and vice versa.


My problem is that I have a lot of situations were I get conflicting signals, so to speak.


Lets say I'm the PFR, BTN calls, Board comes A73r. My range has enough big aces to justify a 2/3pot cbet here, which will result in a lot of folds.
Villain will rarely ever connect with this flop except with sets, top 2pair(A7s) and probably AJs, so when he connects he will probably raise me.

So by betting 2/3pot I'm splitting his range and generate a way ahead/way behind scenario every time, since there's very few second best hands and no draws he can call me with in case I really have the big Ace.


So I tried it the other way around. I cbet 1/3 pot on flops like this every time. Villain will also connect very seldom and there's not a lot of hands he can float me with.

But he can probably call me with a lot of weak aces so I get one more bet from him. In case he connects strong, I lose less and if he floats me I can either shut down or double barrel on the turn depending on how much equity I have. But I don't get enough value in case he calls me down with worse hands and jeopardize a lot of my equity on the turn.





I even have more trouble on wet flops and hands like this:



TPTK on a dynamic and wet board, I bet 2/3 pot for value, get called and now I have trips and the flush is complete.

Pokersnowie advises to check the flop 100% and 1/4 pot bet the turn.

On the other hand I think I should bet 3/4 pot for value since there are a lot of second best hands and a lot of draws to call me and I'm behind only against combo draws like Th9h. Even 8h9h is just a flip.


So I'm missing a general guideline when to apply which size. The old "bet big and seldom on wet boards and small and often on dry boards" doesn't cut the cheese anymore.

Snowie/GTO style seems to have a perfect size for every situation so it's really hard to find a common denominator.


Any input?

First I am a little confused why you think betting 2/3 pot on the Axx flop will fold out small aces that would call a 1/3 pot bet?

The A8 sample is a good example of a spot where betting against bad players might be a good idea but following Snowie’s advice to check is a good idea against two somewhat competent players.

Well, in the Axx flop, the only Aces that would call instead of 3bet preflop are AJs and A9-A6s, so I don't think in a my range vs button range battle a 2/3 pot cbet is more than a "go away, it's my money" bet.


I do understand the thinking process behind those examples, but miss a common denominator. Of course, one could do a flopzilla calc in his head, count the # of value hands and bluffs and aize accordingly, but thats juat not practical

If people fold an ace to a cbet for anything less than 2x pot I'd find a different game. Also you don't get raised by two pair or sets because the board isn't going to change a lot, they have position and they don't want to allow you to fold your bluffs.

The A8 hand is a bet on the flop vs fish because they can have stuff like Q8o on the button and such and call. Versus decent players you don't want to bet very often because the board will change a lot and the button can put a lot of pressure on you on the 4,9,T,J/heart etc.

Optimal sizing is obviously very complicated, and it's very hard to know whether big or small is better on a particular flop. In fact, the EV of various bet-sizes doesn't actually change your overall EV all that much, provided you pick the right combos once you've chosen a particular size.

In both spots you mentioned, however, you are OOP vs a BTN caller. An optimal button player calls with a very narrow and fairly strong range. He also has position on you. This means you should rarely be c-betting in the first place (often less than 50% of the time), and that when you do, a smaller size is often best. Position is incredibly powerful, and one of the many concepts that are pertinent (especially in single-raised pots) is that you rarely want to play a huge pot when you're OOP.

If you're in position (e.g. on the button vs a BB caller), then there is more scope for making big bets, because you often want to make it very hard for villain to call down or to check-raise "cheaply". Indeed, villain is now the player that doesn't want to play a huge pot OOP, so on some boards you should threaten to play for stacks, precisely because your opponent doesn't want to do that when he's OOP with a weak range.

To some extent, your sizing regime should be based on whatever your opponent's range doesn't want to face. When you're deciding on a size, you want your opponent to have difficult decisions, not easy ones. If you're OOP vs a condensed range and you bomb it, villain has easy decisions with his low equity hands (he folds and you get no value). If you bet small when OOP, you "force" villain to float light, and you get your value that way. You can also check to induce bluffs, and to try and get your one pairs/bluffcatchers to a cheap showdown.

When you're IP vs a wide range, you can bomb it with air (on good boards for your range) to make villain "overfold", since it's so hard for him to call down OOP with a range disadvantage. Where you have more thin value hands, or the board connects pretty well vs villain's defending range, a smaller bet is often more appropriate. You'd typically want to deny equity cheaply, set a cheap price for your draws, and get thin value from villain's weaker made hands and draws. On those boards where BB connects quite well, you'll also get check-raised quite often (if villain is a tough player), so you want to bet smaller so you lose less when you c-bet light, but also so that you can continue with your own draws and made hands when faced by a "smaller" check-raise.
You obviously don't want to get stacked with AA on 875tt in BTNvBB, and bet-calling a small raise helps you do that. If you bombed the flop with AA and villain raises, you're much less likely to win the hand, because villain threatens to play for stacks, and he has all the nut hands and nut draws in his range, while you just have one pair.