Re: \"Value Bet\"?
 

A "value bet" is a bet or raise you make when (1) you are certain that you will be called and (2) that has a positive expectation.

Re: \"Value Bet\"?
 

This is not really a nit-pick even if it looks like one.

Lets not confuse "positive EV when called" with "wanting a call": if there are 8 bets in the pot and you figure to be a 2:1 favorite if you bet and get called then your value bet is positive. Never-the-less you prefer NOT to get called since winning 8 bets 100% is better than winning 9 bets 66% of the time.

That's real common: betting for value, even encouraging a call, yet hoping not to get called.

- Louie

Re: \"Value Bet\"?
 

I have had the sense that a value bet is the largest bet that your opponent will call after the river when they are beaten. Assuming you have read the hand perfectly due to the board, bets, position, etc. and know that you are winner, you want to bet an amount that your opponent will call. You want to maximize this amount, but go too high and you get nothing (other than the pot, which is yours anyway). This definition, of course, does not apply to limit games. Maybe this is one application of a "value bet", but it is where I have heard it applied.