The basic c-bet

You raised preflop, someone called, and the flop comes. Betting again is called a continuation bet, or c-bet. It is the most frequent postflop decision you will make, and the good news is that a simple rule covers most cases.

The rule

Dry board: bet small with everything. The caller missed two times out of three, and a small bet, about a third of the pot, makes them fold all their misses. Your air bets, your top pair bets, your sets bet: same size, so nobody can tell them apart.

Wet board, made hand or draw: bet big. There are draws everywhere; make them pay. Around two thirds of the pot.

Wet board, air or weak pair: check. A bet gets called or raised by too many hands, and you have nothing to fall back on. Keep the pot small and see what happens.

Semi-wet board: in between, the decision depends more on the exact hand and the opponent. The exercises in this lesson leave them out; those boards come back in the advanced level.

Why the size changes

A small bet on a dry board works because the opponent’s range is weak: they cannot continue with much, whatever you have. A big bet on a wet board works because their range is full of draws, and draws cannot pay a big price often enough.

The size is about their range, not about your hand. That is the idea to keep, and it will come back with more precision in the advanced level.