Bet Sizing in Poker: Pre-Flop

One of the most common mistakes made by beginners in poker is incorrectly sizing their bets. Making bets of the correct size aims to maximize winnings and minimize losses. In practice, it means charging the right price to the villains who have draws for better hands than you.

In this article, we will teach you the most widely used technique approved by professionals. We will also take the opportunity to explain a little about the mathematical concept that justifies the use of this technique. We will only discuss pre-flop bets. In another article, we will discuss post-flop bets.

Preflop Bet Sizing

The standard preflop raise size is 3 to 4x the big blind (BB). So for example: if the blinds are $10/$20 you would raise $60 to $80 chips.

Standard rule for raising: 3x to 4xBB

And why this value?

1st reason: reduce the number of opponents

If you raise preflop, the intention is to either win the pot right away (steal) or reduce the number of opponents who will participate in the hand. The logic behind this can be explained in the following hypothetical situations:

• :As :Ad against an opponent ( :2h :2c ): 81% chance of winning the hand
• :As :Ad against two opponents ( :2h :2c and :Tc :Jd ): 66% chance of winning the hand
• :As :Ad against three opponents ( :2h :2c, :Tc :Jd and :6s :5s ): 49% chance of winning the hand
• :As :Ad against four opponents ( :2h :2c, :Tc :Jd, :6s :5s and :3d :3h ): 40% chance of winning the hand

So even with the best hand in Texas Hold'em, your odds drop from 81% to 40% with the addition of three more opponents (even with hands considered weak). The 3xBB increase discourages villains from entering with speculative hands.

2nd reason: to make it easier to read your opponents

If someone calls your 3xBB raise, you'll already suspect that they have at least a reasonable hand. We know that this may not be the case especially in cheap games, but it's generally true in poker. Having this reading is important to decide your action according to the community cards.

3rd reason: to increase the value of the pot

If you have a quality hand that justifies entering the round, it is also interesting to increase the size of the pot.

Limp and min-raise

Considering the reasons above, it is easy to understand the problem of limping (minimum bet) or mini-raising (2xBB).

Limping is a very common mistake made by beginners, who think: “I’ll limp because my hand isn’t that good” or “I’ll limp with my AA to attract players”. The problem is that in the first case, it will be common for someone to open a raise after you, and in the second case, your AA will lose a lot of quality against several opponents. This mistake is so common among beginners that if you see someone limping a lot, you can make a note about the player (put it there that it must be a donkey!).

Not to say that limping is completely forbidden, there is a situation in which it can be useful. If you are in a good position (late position) and others have limped in before you, but your hand is “speculative” and does not justify a raise, you can even limp in. But you will have to think about the following: in this case, you will only continue in the hand if you make a very good play on the flop (two pair or better).

Another bet size that is not recommended is the min-raise (2xBB). It can be useful in tournaments – in the later stages, with large blinds. But in other situations it is not very useful, as it makes it easy for opponents to call (especially the big blind). The player who does this is usually a newbie! If he does it after someone has limped in, then both of them must be newbies!

When to raise preflop more than standard?

In some cases you will need to bet more than 3 to 4xBB. But be careful, as betting too much can inflate the pot too much, making it difficult to bet post-flop.

One situation that beginners face is at micro-limit tables (the cheapest ones). In these cases, a standard raise usually cannot isolate you, as it is not “respected”. In these cases, we recommend raising to 5 to 7xBB. As mentioned above, raising more can leave you in an undesirable situation later in the hand.

Another case where a larger raise is recommended is if you are short-stacked. If you have 10xBB in chips or less, making a standard raise is kind of pointless. This is because you would have very few chips left if someone called your bet. In these cases, if your hand is good enough to raise, go all-in right away!

The third situation that calls for a bigger raise is if someone has already entered the hand. If you make the standard raise, you will make it very cheap for your opponents to call and continue in the round.

One or more players limped before your action

Here the default rule changes to:

4xBB + 1BB per limper

With this adjusted raise it will be less advantageous for your opponents to continue in the hand.

Let's explain this with an example:

Table with blinds $1/$2. John limps in with :2s :2d. Peter also limps in with a minimum bet, with :7h :6h. You have :Ac :Ad.

Hypothesis 1: You make the standard bet ($6). The blinds fold. In this case, John would have to call $4 more to continue in a pot of $17 (23%). If he calls, Peter would need to complete $4 for a final pot of $21 (only 19%). In practice, it is “proportionally cheap” for the limpers to continue in the hand.

Hypothesis 2: You use the formula (4xBB +1BB/limper), betting $12. The blinds fold. In this case, John would have to call $10 more to continue in a pot of $28 (37%). If he calls, Peter would need to complete $10 for a final pot of $39 (26%). In practice, it is not as cheap to continue as before, but you can still see that the second limper is in a cheap situation if the first one decides to continue.

To make the calculation easier, when playing online poker programs, you can click on the “bet the pot” option, which ends up giving approximately the value of the formula.

One or more players raised before your action

In this case, if you have a good enough hand to re-raise, there is no point in raising using the standard formulas. In fact, it is a situation without a defined formula, it will depend on your intention.

If you want your opponent to stay in the hand, but at the risk of attracting other opponents, you can bet double the previous raise.

If the idea is to take the pot right there or have at most one opponent, the safest bet would be to bet at least three times the previous raise. This is more or less a “pot size” bet, and will make your opponents think twice before continuing.

Conclusion

In short, in this article we advise you to avoid limping (1xBB) or min-raising (2xBB) into a hand before the flop. In most situations, the standard raise (3 to 4xBB) will be the best option, but be aware of cases where it is no longer enough – especially if you are short-stacked or if opponents have entered the hand before you act.