Background is I play recreationally, an hour or so per day at most. Started with $10 and grinded up to my current bankroll of $120 playing NL2 cash games, NL2 zoom and the odd SnG. Have recently moved up to NL5 games.

I usually bet between 45% and 75% pot, depending on a huge range of factors, obviously, but as a beginner I'd say I'm definitely leaving money on the table at times. And it feels like now is a good time to tighten up this part of my game, but I don't really know how or where to start.

Hand example (NL5 6max zoom):

Preflop: Hero is in BB with Jc9c
Villain is in HJ and opens to 14c, everyone else folds, Hero calls
Flop: ($0.30) 9s 2c 5c
Hero checks, Villain bets $0.16, Hero raises to $0.45, Villain calls
Turn: ($1.20) 9s 2c 5c Ac
Hero bets $0.60, Villain calls
River: ($2.40) 9s 2c 5c Ac Ah
Hero bets $1.60, Villain calls, Villain mucks

Now of course, given that he called with a losing hand, I started wondering whether I missed value (well I'm pretty sure I did). Could I have bet closer to pot on the river? Should I have bet more on the turn to increase the pot size? I'm guessing the answer is yes to both of these questions but I also want to know: how do I determine these things in the moment?

Any advice?

general rule: bet smaller when the board favours you range, bet bigger when it favours you opponents range

your hand example however shows that you need to learn more basic concepts than betsizings, ie reasons to bet/raise and the difference between valuebets and bluffs

That's not too helpful unless you expand on why? I think my actions were quite standard.

there are two reasons to bet/raise in poker: to make a worse hand call (valuebet), or to make a better hand fold (bluff). What worse hands are you expecting to call your flop raise? Alternatively, what better hands than yours do you expect to fold to a flop raise?

If you cant answer this question clearly, ie when you bet/raise is neither valuebet nor a bluff, dont bet or raise. You have a perfect calling hand on the flop: you beat all bluffs AND if he isnt bluffing, you have many outs to improve. Raising will simply mean that he will fold all his bluffs (which you dont want) and continue with hands that have you beat (which you dont want either).

The half pot raise on the flop is fine (calling is also viable, and even standard), but think about what other combos you are raising.
You'll have some sets (value) and some flush draws and straight draws (semi-bluff), maybe some other 9x (raising for protection) or some total air with backdoors (Kx/Qx with Kc).
Once you've listed out your range, ask yourself how it's doing on that turn card, and also consider what happens to villain's range if you bet big or small.
I think villain's range for flatting the check-raise contains some better flush draws, and a lot of overpairs. Bombing the flushy ace is unlikely to be a good idea, since hands like red jacks or tens can't continue (so you don't get paid), but when villain has the nut flush he's loving you bloat the pot for him. I think a small turn bet is more appropriate so that your hand gets called by the weaker parts of villain's range. Half pot is fine, but I wouldn't go bigger.
On the river, when the board pairs the ace, your relative hand strength actually declines a lot, since villain can have some sets and two pair combos that became boats. If you're betting at all, it should be very small. I think checking would be better though. Hardly anything you beat should be calling a big bet, unless villain is a whale or some kind of GTO wizard that called the flop check-raise with stuff like AQ/AT with a club. (If he sees the turn with those, he has to call turn with TP+FD, and then sigh-call with trips on the river.). He should never call the river bet with KK-JJ or just king high, but he's always at least calling (if not shoving) with AA, A9, 99, 55, QTcc and any other flushes that didn't raise the turn.
Don't bet big on the river if it gives villain a really easy decision with most of his range. Try and pick a size that makes him sigh. e.g. If you bet 1/4 pot, he has to sigh call with KK/QQ with a club. When you bomb it, he just folds those easily.

It's actually kind of funny that you bring this up because I based this play on something I was reading just a couple of days ago about 3betting flush draws on the flop. The reasoning was that:

a) you balance your postflop 3bet range (not really relevant at this level/game type)
b) you build a pot, you can continue on the turn (or river) if you hit your flush - and your flush is kind of disguised at that point, or you can check the turn if you don't hit and villain is more likely to check behind because they don't want to get check-raised again.
c) lots of stuff about fold equity and it always being better to be the aggressor, etc.

I don't know. Maybe it was bad advice. It worked in this one and only instance that I've tried it since!

Back to the main question, does anybody want to advise on bet-sizing, especially for value on the river? This hand was just an example really, I'm looking for general advice about it.

So was I just lucky he called such a big bet and mucked here? Because when that happens, I obviously feel like I should have bet even bigger! If he calls 66% pot, maybe he calls 90% pot, you know?

In hindsight I guess maybe he had AK and so I was rather lucky. That's the only thing I see calling and losing here.


Anyway so betsizing is really strongly based on the range you put your opponent on?

Re: Raising with flush draws on the flop, it's true that good things can happen when you raise the flop with FDs, but in this particular case you have a medium pair and a flush draw. That's a hand that does very well if the pot stays small-medium sized. It doesn't do so well if villain 3-bets the flop and tries to play for stacks (you could be up against the nut flush draw, or an overpair with a flush blocker, or a set). When you check-raise the flop, you want to have an easy decision if villain re-raises. i.e. You either want to pile all your money in as a favourite, or you want to have a fairly easy fold. How do you feel about J9s on this flop if villain 3-bets the flop? I'd be thinking "please don't have a set or the NFD, please have 76cc and nothing else".

Yes, bet-sizing is strongly based on the range you're up against. If villain's range is weak, it's hard to get paid if you bet big. If his range is strong, betting big is just giving him your money. It's really hard to get it right though. Learning the basics of working out whether you are trying to make villain call or fold (i.e. whether you're value-betting or bluffing) is the concept you need to understand before you think much about the sizing though. Until then, using 1/2 or 2/3 pot is usually fine. Just be aware of what you're trying to accomplish with the action (betting or checking), before you get into the sizing thing, as Tute was saying in the first reply.

I think c/r flop to GII was pretty standard in spots like this until a couple of years ago when people stopped to cbet close to 100% as the PFA IP.

A lot depends on villains range, but for everybody who cbets these spots at a high frequency, Ax(KQJT)c probably should be in the bet/calling range? Those are the only hands we beat that we can target with a big river bet. Besides weaker flushs obv.

Turn card probably eliminated 2/3 of villains possible flushs, and since hero blocks J and 9, the only ones that beat him are KQ, KT and QT which means hero actually beats 50% of villains flushes (T8, 87, 76)

Bet sizing is probably one of the most complex things in poker and it generally depends on A LOT/MANY of different factors in determining whether using one/2 bet sizings is going to yield more EV with hands then one sizing.

1 important aspect in deciding bet sizing is run outs so how do both villain's and hero's ranges interact with board/run-outs.

Obviously other things that are basic like if you think villain's calling range vs a pot size bet is similar to a 1/3 bet sizing then take the most +EV sizing as long with certain range of hands

Just wanted to let you know, you are not 3 betting his turn bet, you are raising. If you were raised again, that would be a 3 bet.

You mean flop bet?

So if somebody bets the flop and I raise, that's not a 3bet? Makes sense given it's the second bet XD

I guess I never thought about the fact that "3bet" preflop is taking the blinds into account.

The thing with wanting to bet bigger in this spot is that any observant villain will notice you vary your bet sizes dependant on hand strength and will adjust accordingly. (although you shouldn’t have to worry too much about this at 5nl)