If you’re still getting used to value betting in poker – which involves extracting the most value without making opponents fold when ahead – here are a few factors that will help you get the hang of this concept:

Opponent’s Hand Strength – By putting your opponent on a range during the hand in question, while also knowing something about their previous play, you’ll have a good idea about their hand strength. And the better you think this hand strength is, the higher the value bet you can place since they’ll be less likely to fold.

Opponent’s Assessment of your Hand – The amount of money you make from a hand will all depend on how the other player looks at your holdings. For example, if the other player thinks they have you beat, you can make much bigger value bets. To understand this factor, think about how the opponent would view you based on your previous play.

How Likely the Other Player is to fold – You can get even more value out of a great hand when the opponent is a calling station, or has a very difficult time putting something like top pair down.

Now that we’ve discussed the three big factors of value betting, it’s important to note just how important these factors are. After all, the amount of money you make off of value bets will go a long way to determining your success as a player. And assuming you play a lot of poker each month, your value betting edge could mean a difference of thousands of dollars!

Your experience with the stakes you normally play will be a huge factor in your value betting success, so just be patient and keep picking up on what you’re doing right and wrong when it comes to this concept.