A value bet in poker is a bet made with the intention of getting paid off by weaker hands. It is a bet made when you believe that your hand is likely the best hand and that your opponent is likely to call with a weaker hand. The goal of a value bet is to extract the maximum amount of chips from your opponent that you can, given the strength of your hand. A rule of thumb to make sure your bet is indeed a value bet is, if your hand is expected to win versus at least 50% of your opponent’s calling range (all the possible you expect your opponent to call your bet with).

For beginners, it’s important to understand the concept of pot odds when making a value bet. Pot odds refer to the ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of a contemplated call. When making a value bet, it’s important to ensure that the expected value of making the bet is positive, meaning that you expect to win more chips than you are betting. This can be achieved by making bets that are larger than the pot odds offered by your opponent, giving you a positive expected value over the long run.

We will cover pots odds more in depth to make sure you have the tools necessary to master value bets.