Want to emerge as an expert poker player in the future? Learn more about the different types of poker bets to increase chances of beating your opponents and maximizing your winnings.
Why do you play online poker? Is it for the entertainment quotient or for the challenging game situations it throws at you? The beauty of the poker game is that it makes every player attempt to win. While you are not likely to win all the games that you play, your aim has to be to win as many games as possible. For starters, you need to master the poker rules and the poker hand rankings so that you get the confidence of playing against different types of opponents at the poker tables. And yes, that is not going to be enough if you intend to continue to maximize your poker winning odds over a long period of time.
This is where you need to be aware of the various poker bets that you can make. If you are new to poker or haven’t played a lot of online poker games, you might not even know about the different types of bets that exist in poker. If you wish to stay ahead of your opponents and give yourself enough opportunities to outsmart them on a consistent basis, get yourself well-versed with the types of bets and how you can make them depending on the situation of the game. Let us delve deeper into some of the top strategic poker bets below.
Value Bet
Imagine a situation where you believe you have got a very strong hand that can probably make you win the game. Now, if you happen to place a very high bet, it could send a signal to the opponents that your hand is strong and they might fold their cards. So, even if you manage to win such a game, the pot size could be fairly small, and this is not something that you would want. Your objective is to get more chips into the pot and increase its size so that when you actually win, you win big. This is where you have to place a ‘value bet’ that is the maximum possible bet (a sweet spot) that is most likely to make your opponent ‘call’.
Continuation Bet
This is one of the most common poker bets that you are likely to encounter as you play poker online. The objective of this bet is to scare off your opponents by giving them a perception of you possessing a very strong hand. If you happen to raise at preflop, it means you have taken the lead at the table and your opponents know you have a strong hand building up. Now, even if you happen to miss the flop, you can continue to bet and enhance this perception of a strong hand, in order to scare your opponents off. If you miss the flop, there is a good chance that the remaining active players on the table might also have missed the flop. In such a scenario, a continuation bet could help you win the pot at that street itself, instead of you having to go deep into the game with a not-so good hand.
This type of bet can be of about half the size of the pot, which means that even if any of the opponents manage to hit something good at the flop, you can manage to get away without losing a lot of chips. It also indicates that your opponent has pot odds of around 3 to 1, which might not be so good for him/her to continue playing with most of the drawing hands.
Over bet
As the name suggests, this is an over-sized bet that you can make when you play poker online. It can be used as a bluff to make your opponents believe that you have a strong hand. The objective is to put pressure on your opponents as they know that they would have to put a lot of chips if they intend to continue in that game. It can help you to make them fold then and there itself, if they are holding marginal hands. Another scenario for the over bet can be when you have made a couple of bluffs in recent play, and you have a good hand; then, an over-sized bet can fool your opponents into thinking that it is yet another bluff. This way they may continue with marginal hands and build a bigger pot which you can potentially win with your good hand.
All-In Bet
This poker bet is quite similar to over bet in the online poker game, but quite risky. The all-in bet is the maximum one that you can possibly make and hence it tends to put your opponents in a tricky situation. You can use this option in very few situations, especially when you are committed to the pot to a great extent – which means you have added so many chips in the pot that you cannot fold. However, this can be effective when you make the first move and go all-in, thereby putting pressure on the opponents to fold. But, if an opponent makes a bet and then you just call with all-in, you can rarely make the opponent fold and it is likely to come to a situation where you have to beat the opponent’s hand.
Final Thoughts
Remember, you can become a successful poker game player by not just mastering the poker hand rankings and poker rules, but by getting a thorough understanding of the various types of poker bets. The above-discussed bets, if used in a smart manner during any of the online poker games, can help you increase your chances of a win. Download the MPL app now and start implementing these bets!
