The minimum bet

[Jason Strasser]

In Sit and Go tournies, or in 50-100 NL tables, I am sometimes taken out of my game by a minimum bet.

Usually, because I play aggressive, especially in the later rounds of a sit and go, when someone bets the minimum, I sense it as a sign of weakness and reraise on a marginal hand.

In past experiences, a minimum bet can mean:

1) The opposing player is drawing, and the cheapest way for him to see the next card is to bet the minimum.

2) The opposing player has a marginal hand, and is buying information about whether I hit the flop or not.

3) The opposing player has a very good hand, and is trying to goat me into raising, and at the very least is trying to increase pot size.

Most of the times the 1 or 2 occurs. It is when 3 occurs, which is a big hole in my game. What do you do when you are heads up, or maybe 3way, when someone bets the minimum into you? I know this all depends on the type of player you are up against, but in general, the most puzzling bet for me to handle is the minimum bet.

[crockpot]

3 is very rare. the overwhelming majority of the time, 1 or 2 is occurring.

it's important to consider the stack sizes. if your opponent is min-betting and doesn't have much left (in a sng), a raise with absolutely nothing is dangerous because he will call with any draw. in a ring game, however, i think this situation calls for an automatic raise. this is especially true if your opponent raised a decent amount preflop.

one important consideration: most players do not mix up their game. there are those who will min bet with a hand, but they rarely min bet without one; and those that regularly min bet without a hand very rarely do so when they have something.

[turnipmonster]

on the old high stakes 2+2 forums (in the digests section) there is some excellent discussion, especially from ray zee about the merits of underbetting the pot. you really have to watch your step around someone that knows what they're doing and keeps underbetting.

however, in the low buyin online big bet games, people underbet just because they don't know what the hell they're doing. I love underbets from people like that, because you can either draw cheap or raise for value. it's easy to get away from a hand if they play back with an allin, and people that underbet the pot seem to call raises with trash a good amount of the time. in a live game this would never happen consistently.

--turnipmonster