What is a CBet in poker?

You may have heard the term CBet before in poker, but you’re not sure what exactly it means. A CBet is not a poker rule, but it is a common strategy. Well, a CBet means 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 usually done to represent a strong hand.

CBetting is one of the most common types of betting strategies 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 the size of the pot. CBets have a pretty 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, you decide to open and raise your KTos. So you have 60 chips left. Everyone, including the small blinds, folds to your obvious power hand, except for the big blind who calls, adding another 40, to make the pot of 130 chips in total. Here comes the flop that has flush chemistry and a straight. 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 about 85 chips, so the pot is now 215. That bet is a textbook continuation bet.

Now, let’s reverse the play, and instead of your opponent checking, he actually led out with a bet of 85. That’s not a continuation bet, since he called your bet preflop. It also prevents you from cbetting, although you always have the option to call or reraise. Given the early stages of this sit and go tournament and his small investment in the pot here, I’d probably fold 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, you can reasonably do the same after the flop. However, against multiple opponents, a Cbet is much riskier and is likely to fail more often. For example, if there were 3 people who called before the flop in this hand, you have a pretty slim chance of taking this pot on the flop, especially when you’re only betting king high.

Here are some tips to keep your CBets profitable. Know what kind of player made your bet preflop. Make your CBets smaller if you want to risk less or if you flop a big hand. Also, look to get value out of your hand by building the pot in smaller increments against loose, aggressive opponents. These are the players who are most likely to reraise you when you have a strong hand.

To learn more about continuation betting, watch how other players do it, even when you’re not in the hand. By paying attention to more experienced poker players, you will become much more familiar with the game and develop a thorough understanding of the poker rules.