[TheDrone]

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Theory of poker doesn't talk much about an *optimal* betting strategy when betting from the lead.

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How do you know that you have the lead with TPTK? For example, let's say you raise 3BB preflop in MP with A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], the button calls, and the flop comes Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img],T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img],6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. There's 7.5BB in the pot and you bet 8 BB. Button calls. Now what? At this point you have 11BB invested (could be half of your stack) and you don't know if your opponent is on a draw, has a weaker kicker, or is slowplaying a set.

I have found that making pot-sized or larger bets with TPTK can be very costly in a tournament except in certain situations, therefore I do not employ a standard bet with TPTK. For example, I prefer to be more aggressive with TPTK when I am last to act and there are only 1 or 2 other in the pot with me. There are many scenarios where I will tend to bet less than the pot and shut it down on the turn.

Being able to judge when you are behind with TPTK is a skill that comes more from experience in assessing all variables of the situation at hand. I don't think you can boil it down to a formulaic strategy in NL tournament games. Or maybe someone can, but the formula would be quite complex given the number of variables.