You may have heard the term CBet before in poker, but aren’t sure what exactly it means. A CBet is not a poker rule, but it is a common strategy. Well, a CBet stands for continuation bet, which is when you bet on the flop after you have raised before the flop, hence the continuation. You are simply following your own bet, with another bet. This is generally done to represent a strong hand.
CBetting is one of the most common types of betting strategy because you often do it in position and gain more value in the long run while controlling the hand, your opponent, and the size of the pot. A typical CBet is 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot size. CBets have a fairly high success rate, especially against a single opponent. So let’s look at a typical CBet situation.
With the blinds at 10/20 in the early stages, everyone has folded and from mid-late position at a single table, sit back and go, you decide to open and raise your KTos. So there are 60 chips left. Everyone, including the small blinds, folds to his obvious power hand, except the big blind that calls, adding another 40, to make the pot of 130 total chips. Here comes the flop that has straight and flush chemistry. Your opponent who acts first decides to check you. Now, because the table has some draws, you decide to bet 2/3 of the pot, which is roughly 85 chips, making the pot 215. That bet is a textbook continuation bet.
Now let’s turn the game around and instead of his opponent checking, he actually came out with a bet of 85. That is not a continuation bet, since he was the one who called his bet before the flop. It also prevents you from cbetting, although you always have the option of calling or re-raising. Given the early stages of this sit and go tournament and your small investment in the pot here, I would probably withdraw from KT rather than call or bluff here.
A C-Bet is a pretty standard play against a single opponent, because if you represent strength before the flop, then you can reasonably do the same after the flop. However, against multiple opponents, a Cbet is much riskier and can miss more often. For example, if there were 3 people who called preflop in this hand, you have a pretty slim chance of hitting this pot on the flop, especially when you’re only betting king high.
Here are some tips to keep your CBets profitable. Know what type of player called your bet preflop. Lower your CBets if you want to risk less or if you have a huge hand on the flop. Also, look to get value out of your hand by building the pot in smaller increments against loose, aggressive opponents. These are players who are more likely to reraise when you have a strong hand.
To learn more about c bets, watch how other players do it, even when not in hand. By paying attention to more experienced poker players, you will become much more familiar with the game and develop a deep understanding of the rules of poker.