Value

1. Amount of a bet such that a player's opponent is lured into calling. A 'value bet' is typically small in comparison to the size of a pot and is meant to induce a call.

Example

Let's say you're playing a tournament with blinds at 25-50, and you get involved in a heads-up pot with a player whose stack is exactly the same as yours at 3000 chips. He opens to 150 and you flat from the button with Ah-Jd. When the flop comes down Kh-Jc-4s, he bets 250 and you decide to call. The pot is now 875. The turn brings the 2d, and he checks so you check behind as there's no reason to bloat the pot with your second pair. When the river comes the 2s and your opponent once again checks to you, the question now becomes should you make a 'value bet'?

In most cases, your pair of jacks is good here and it's just a matter of making a bet that your opponent will call with his inferior hand. If he had a K, he'd likely have led the river after you checked the turn behind, so his most likely holdings include a worse jack and pairs from 55-TT. If you make a bet of about 450, your opponent will often call with his smaller pair, and will only find a fold if he has a draw (usually only QT in this case).

Other Uses

Poker players often use the word 'value' as a noun, saying things like, "You should definitely bet that river or you're losing a lot of value" or "There's so much value in playing that tournament, you should play it every day of the week and twice on Sundays".