Betting the Wrong Amount in No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments

by Tom McEvoy

Lots of tournament players play their "A" games for an hour or so -- until they can't stand it any longer. "There are a lot of players in tournaments who don't have an 'A' game," T.J. Cloutier stated. "In the long run, the weaker players are going to make calls and plays that are so far out of line that they don't have a chance to win the tournament." In simple terms, the player who makes the fewest mistakes in no-limit Texas hold'em is the one who makes the most money.

It is particularly important in tournament play to recognize leaks in your game and correct them as completely and quickly as possible. The top pros understand that playing mistake-free poker is their ticket to the top. Sometimes, however, we all have lapses in concentration and make mistakes that can become fatal flaws, especially in freezeout tournaments, in which you cannot buy more chips when you lose your stack. One of the fatal flaws that co-author Don Vines and I discuss in our upcoming book, How to Win No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments, is betting the wrong amount --too much or too little --in no-limit hold'em tournaments.

Betting too much: When you push your chips into the pot, always ask yourself, "What is the purpose of my bet?" When you bet too much, people are often suspicious. "There's only $100 in the pot and he's betting $1,000. Why is he betting so much?" they wonder. Quite often when you overbet the pot, your purpose is to shut out people when you have a marginal hand that you think might be the best hand --but just in case it isn't, you're praying, "Please don't call me."

We often see someone in late position grossly overbet the pot with a hand such as pocket sevens. They bet several times the size of the pot because they want everybody to fold. The only problem with that type of play is that they are likely to see one of two outcomes: They will either win a small pot or lose a very big pot. If they get called, they're almost always going to be up against a better hand. We've even seen players routinely overbet the pot in tournaments with hands like A-6 offsuit. Anytime we see players overbet the pot (or underbet the pot, for that matter), their play indicates to us that they probably are inexperienced players.

Here's a fix for this flaw: If you raise the pot the same amount every time that you are first to act, your opponents will have trouble putting you on a hand. We suggest raising three to four times the size of the big blind if you plan on raising.

Betting too little: Suppose you are playing in a medium-limit tournament and the blinds are $50-$100. A player comes into the pot for $200, exactly twice the size of the big blind. Your first reaction to his bet is, "Uh-oh, a limit hold'em player." Or, if you know the raiser is a seasoned no-limit hold'em tournament player, you might think, "He wants me to play. He has a big hand and wants to entice some action on it." Most of the time, however, a double-the-big-blind bet simply indicates that the bettor is a novice player who doesn't know any better.

One of the worst plays we see new players or low-limit online players make is this: Two or three players have entered the pot for the minimum bet and the novice raises to exactly double the size of the big blind. This is a raise that will not drive anybody out of the pot. Instead, it will reopen the betting for anybody at the table who wants to reraise. If someone has sandbagged (slow-played) a strong hand or believes the raiser's hand is a bit weak, he often will make a big reraise and take the pot away from the original raiser right there. The original raiser has not accomplished anything with his double bet except lose money on the hand.

Here's one way to fix this flaw: Raise three to four times the size of the big blind. If callers are already in the pot, add one increment for each caller up to three. For example, if three players are in the pot, raise six to seven times the big blind.

One of the common consequences of betting too little is that players let drawing hands get into the pot too cheaply. It's like they have a limit hold'em mentality, betting just double the size of the big blind even on the flop. Suppose they have A-J. The flop comes J-10-3 with two diamonds. They probably have the best hand, but this is a coordinated flop. Say there's $100 in the pot and they decide to bet $20 or $30. Now, they're making it profitable for anybody with any kind of reasonable draw, including an inside-straight draw with an overcard, to take off a card (call the bet).

Depending on the size of the pot, I like to make a pot-sized bet. I don't want to overbet, because occasionally I might run into a bigger hand. But, I want to make it costly enough that the marginal hands will leave. If you were to always bet the size of the pot when you thought you had the best hand on the flop and wanted to protect it, and you did no other type of betting, you probably would be right about 90 percent of the time.

Tom McEvoy is the author of Championship Tournament Poker and the co-author with Don Vines of How to Win No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments (due out in May). You will often find him in action at the poker table at www.pokerstars.com, where he is a spokesperson.