Poker Math That Matters

16
Later in this book, you'll understand why this is important. For
now, it's just important to get used to the terminology and
understand that just because a bet seems like a lot of money to
you, doesn't mean it's a large bet.
The second thing I’d like to show you about sizing bets in NLHE
is how to make both a min-raise and a pot-size raise. Some
internet poker sites have buttons you can press that will size your
bets to these amounts; however, it's important you know how to
do this yourself. For example, let's say your opponent bets $50.
The minimum amount you're allowed to raise in a NLHE game
is double the size of your opponent's bet. So, you could not raise
to $80. 2 The minimum raise allowed is double the size of his
bet, which would be $100. If you have $100 left and you wish to
raise, you must put in at least $100.
Now let's discuss the pot-size raise. We’ll say the pot is $100,
and your opponent bets $50. A common misconception is that a
pot-size raise would be $300 (double the $150 in the pot right
now). However, this is not correct. Making a pot-size bet can be
done in two easy steps.
1. Take the amount you must call and double it.
2. Add the results from number one to the size of the pot
(including your opponent's bet).
So, let's do these two steps with our example.
1. Our opponent's bet was $50. We double that and get
$100.
2. The pot including our opponent's bet is $150. We add
the results from number one ($100) to $150, and our potsize
raise would be $250.
2
The only exception would be if you only had $80 remaining in your
stack.