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Playing out of position as a preflop aggressor can often be tricky. Once you get to the flop, you have to decide two things: what flops you are supposed to c-bet on in the first place, and then also what bet size to use on different textures.
In our previous articles, we’ve already covered the general topic of c-betting out of position, so today’s lesson will focus on a more specific topic of bet sizing.
This article will provide GTO strategies for correctly sizing your continuation bets and choosing between big and small bet sizes on different types of flops.
We’ll use our standard setting of cutoff vs. button, playing 100 big blinds effective, and utilizing the standard preflop raise size of 3x.
Before we dive into some of the most representative and relevant boards, here are a few main takeaways to guide you through this lesson:
- Our overall c-bet percentage OOP is significantly lower than when playing in position
- We should check wet ace-high boards pretty much 100% of the time
- Dry ace-high flops have a c-bet percentage of just around 15% and stick to a bigger bet sizing
- On high-card boards, we should be using large sizing primarily on dry textures
- Wet high-card flops, we should check almost 90% of the time – the rest we are c-betting using a small sizing
- We are betting big and at a low frequency (15% – 20%) on low-card dry flops
Tip #1: Use Big Bet Sizing on Dry Ace-High Flops That Warrant C-Bets
When it comes to playing ace-high boards out of position, our default play will be to check on most textures. The general rule of thumb here is: the wetter the texture, the likelier we are to skip a c-bet.
For example, on a board of A♠J♠10♥, we are never continuation betting. In this spot, we are simply happy to check with our entire range, controlling the size of the pot and protecting our equity.
It is only on the very dry ace-high boards that we’ll continuation bet with any significant frequency, and in those instances, the solver prefers using a big sizing of 69% of the pot. We can see this on an example of the A♠9♦3♣ board.
It is important to note that our overall c-betting frequency, even on this type of texture, is still under 15%, so your default play is still checking.
When betting, however, we should be using the big sizing, with a mix of our strong poker hands (like AK and AQ) and a mix of low equity bluffs such as QTs, JTs, 76s, and 65s.
Tip #2: Adjust Your Sizing for Different Types of High-Card Flops
Figuring out the correct c-bet size to use on high-card flops when playing out of position is not easy. The best decision will depend on the flop texture (wet vs. dry) and the exact high card present on the board. So, let’s get into it.
King High Flops Out of Position
When it comes to king-high flops, dry textures are of the most interest for our specific topic. We are c-betting 60% – 65% of the time on these textures, using predominantly the big bet size of 69% of the pot, as we can see on the example of the K♠8♥3♣:
As you can see, we are c-betting at some frequency with our entire range on these textures, with the big to small sizing ratio of about three to one.
When we switch to wet textures containing a king, things change quite a bit. Our overall c-bet percentage drops significantly to just around 25%, and the sizing preference moves completely to the small sizing of 29% of the pot, as we can see on the example of the K♥9♠8♠ flop.
This texture coordinates much better with a caller’s range, which results in smaller sizing being used pretty much exclusively. We are still c-betting almost the entire range, but, as you can see, at much lower frequencies across the board.
Queen High Flops OOP
Queen-high textures are somewhat similar to king-high ones, at least in that we should be using large sizing on dry boards and defaulting to the small one on wet textures. That said, our overall c-bet percentage is much lower.
Let’s look at an example of the Q♠8♥2♣ flop.
This texture is as dry as they get, and here, we are c-betting around 40% of the time, defaulting once again to that big, 69% of the pot option.
As you can see, we are doing this equally with our bluffs and strong hands, adhering largely to the three to one ratio when choosing between big and small sizes. There are only a few hands that we are almost always checking with here, such as the smallest of our pocket pairs and the weakest of our suited king hands.
When it comes to draw-heavy textures, there is once again the kind of shift we saw in previous examples. If we look at the board like Q♦10♥8♥, our optimal c-betting frequency is under 10%, and when we do fire a rare c-bet, we should be using the small sizing.
Jack High Flops OOP
Everything we’ve covered about high-card flops so far applies to jack-high textures as well, with a few differences that are important to note.
On very dry J-high flops, we are c-betting 25% to 30% of the time, and using big sizing almost exclusively, as we can see on the example of the J♥6♦2♣ board:
The above example represents one of the driest possible textures of this type. As we move things and more draws become available, our c-bet percentage drops and we are using a small sizing more frequently:
As we reach very wet textures, such as J♦8♥7♥, our c-betting frequency gets very close to zero, with the OOP player checking well over 95% of the time, depending on the exact flop makeup.
Tip #3: Bet Big With Low Frequency on Dry Low-Card Flops
Finally, we arrive at low-card flops, and these, as expected, aren’t the ones that we’ll be c-betting very often.
In fact, when it comes to draw-heavy low-card boards, such as 7♥6♥4♦, we don’t have any c-bets in these spots, as they are pure checks.
On drier types of textures, such as 8♠5♦2♣, we will be c-betting between 15% and 20%, and, once again, the big sizing of 69% of the pot is by far the preferred solver option:
The selection of hands that warrant a c-bet in this spot consists of value hands (pocket pairs down to 55, top and middle pair combos), decent selection of solid equity bluffs T7s, 97s, and 65s, and some low-equity hands with backdoor potential (KTs, QTs, A6s, K6s, etc.).
