At a glance
- On the HUD
- Flop Bet·Turn Bet·River Bet
- Formula
bets / streets where they could bet with no bet in front- Typical range
30–60% on every street
- Where it shows
- Badge: everyone in the hand when nobody holds the lead, players in position after a checked-back street, and a bettor in a plain bet.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
Every time a player acts on a street and nobody has bet yet, they choose between checking and betting. Bet unopened is the share of those moments they bet. It doesn’t matter whether they were first to act or everyone before them checked, and it doesn’t matter what kind of bet it was.
That makes it the broadest betting stat in the HUD. It takes in all the narrower ones at once: a c-bet from the preflop raiser, a donk bet into them, a stab after they check, a probe on the turn, and the plain bets that fit none of those labels.
When the spot has a name, use the narrow stat, because it answers a sharper question. Use Bet unopened when it doesn’t: limped pots, where there is no preflop raiser and so no c-bet or flop donk bet; a player who raised the flop and now bets the turn; or any time you want one number for “how often does this player take the initiative when nobody forces them to.” Its sibling, bet when checked to, drops the first-to-act chances and keeps only the ones that come after a check.
How it’s calculated
It’s counted once per street, on the player’s first decision:
- Chance: their first action on the street comes with no bet in front, because they’re first to act or because everyone before them checked.
- Counts if: that action is a bet, of any kind and any size.
- Not a chance: streets where someone bet before they acted (those feed fold vs bet and raise vs bet instead), and streets where fewer than two players could still bet because the rest are all-in.
Formula: bets ÷ streets where they could bet with no bet in front. A check followed later by a call or a raise on the same street doesn’t add a second chance. The HUD also keeps a heads-up and a multiway version for each street.
One counting quirk: after the flop, the c-bet lead only passes to a player who c-bet the street before and wasn’t raised. A player who raised the flop and then bets the turn isn’t making a c-bet, a donk bet or a stab in the HUD’s terms, so that bet only shows up here.
Example: Theo saw 50 flops. On 38 of them his first action came with nothing in front of him; on the other 12 someone had already bet. He bet 17 of the 38, so his flop Bet unopened is 17 / 38 = 45%. Split further, 22 of those 38 came after checks and he bet 13 of them (59%); the other 16 times he was first to act and led only 4 (25%). The 45% blend hides a player who bets freely when checked to and rarely leads.
Why it matters
Bet unopened tells you how much a player wants the betting lead when nothing forces their hand. A player near 60% turns lots of hands into bets: value, protection, draws and plain air. A player near 30% checks most of the time and waits, which usually means fit-or-fold play or slowplaying.
It changes two of your reads. First, what their check means: a player who bets at almost every chance has a weak range when they do check, so you can bet behind with a wide range. A player who rarely bets checks good hands too, so bet thin into them with more care. Second, what their bet means: a low-Bet player’s bets are stronger, so fold more marginal hands; a high-Bet player’s bets are wider, so call down lighter.
In the loose, passive PokerNow games many readers play, plenty of small and medium pots go to whoever bets first. Read it alongside aggression frequency, which mixes in raises, calls and folds; Bet unopened isolates the free choice.
Too low, about right, too high
Too low: under 30%
What it says
They check most of the time when they could bet. That’s typical of passive players: Stations and Rocks among the HUD’s player types, and Fish who limp and call. Their checks contain everything, from air to sets they hope to check-raise or check-call. When they finally bet, it’s usually a made hand, and often a strong one. Some players land here only because they play cautiously multiway, so check the heads-up version before writing them off.
How to exploit it
- Bet when they check to you, especially in position and heads-up. A 33% bet needs only 24.8% folds to profit as a pure bluff, and passive players check-fold plenty.
- Value-bet thinner. They rarely bet second pair themselves, so they get to showdown with it; bet it for them.
- Give their bets credit. Fold one-pair hands to a turn or river bet from a player under 25% on that street unless they’ve shown bluffs.
- Check their check-raise before betting light. Low Bet with a high check-raise means their checks hide strength; low Bet with a low check-raise means they’re simply passive.
About right: 30–60%
What it says
They mix bets and checks, which is where most competent players land. Inside this range the overall number tells you little; the information sits in how it splits. A 45% can be a player who c-bets often and never leads, or a player who leads a lot in limped pots and gives up as the preflop raiser. Both look normal on the badge, and they call for opposite adjustments.
How to exploit it
Look past the blend to the stats that name the spot. If they hold the lead, use c-bet; out of position to the raiser, use donk bet; in position after the raiser checks, use stab. Then compare the heads-up and multiway versions: many players bet half the time heads-up and almost never into three opponents, which tells you their multiway checks are wide and their multiway bets are strong. Finally check sizing. Two players at 45% play very differently if one bets 30% of the pot and the other bets the pot.
Too high: over 60%
What it says
They bet most of the time they get the chance. That takes a lot of air and thin hands, so their betting range is wide and their checking range is weak. Expect this from LAGs and Maniacs, and from players who believe the first bet wins the pot. On the turn and river, a number this high usually means they barrel draws and give-ups alike.
How to exploit it
- Check to them more with medium hands and call. Their bluffs pay your check-call range, and the pot stays smaller when they have it.
- Check-raise strong hands and good draws instead of leading; they’ll bet for you.
- When they do check, bet. Their checking range is capped, so stab with a wide range and value-bet medium hands.
- Look at their fold to raise. High Bet with a high fold to raise means many bets are give-ups: raise them as a bluff. High Bet with a low fold to raise means they bet and don’t let go: raise only for value.
On the flop, turn and river
Flop: bet unopened
The flop gives the most chances and the clearest picture, but role matters. For a preflop raiser, most flop chances are c-bet spots, so their flop Bet sits close to their c-bet rate. For a player who mostly calls preflop, it reflects donk bets, stabs and limped pots. An aggressive opener can look like a big bettor here without ever leading.
PokerNow games limp a lot, and a limped pot has no preflop raiser, so flop Bet unopened is the only betting stat that covers those flops. A player who bets most limped flops when checked to is picking up a lot of small pots with nothing.
Flop exploit: when a player with a high flop Bet checks to you heads-up, they’ve passed on a spot where they usually bet, so their range is weak. Bet small, around 33% of the pot, with most of your range, and value-bet more of your pairs.
Turn: bet unopened
Turn chances come from a few places: a player who bet the flop and gets to bet again, a flop that was checked through, and the turn after a flop raise. Pots are bigger, so a turn bet risks more and a turn check gives up more. Many players bet the turn less often than the flop, and the size of that drop is often more useful than either number alone.
A small drop means they keep firing. A big drop, such as 55% on the flop and 25% on the turn, marks a one-and-done player. Against them, call flop bets in position with a wider range, including gutshots and backdoor draws, and bet when they check the turn: their turn check after a flop bet is mostly a give-up.
A turn number higher than the flop number is unusual and worth noting. It often belongs to a player who checks flops to trap or take a free card and attacks once the pot is bigger. Against that player, be careful betting thin on the flop and expect turn leads to be strong more often than they look.
River: bet unopened
The river is the last decision, so every unopened river bet is either value or a bluff; there’s no card left to draw to. Checking a medium hand on the river is a showdown play, not weakness, so river Bet unopened measures how wide a player value-bets and how often they bluff when given the chance.
A low river number (under 30%) usually means a player who checks down second pair and missed draws alike and bets only strong hands. When they bet the river, fold your bluff-catchers unless their river bluff (shown) stat says they do bluff. When they check, bet your thin value.
A high river number (over 60%) means they bet a lot of rivers, thin value and bluffs both. River exploit: check your medium-strength hands to them instead of betting, then call. They’ll bet worse hands as bluffs, and you avoid getting raised off a hand that was winning.
When it’s your own number
The HUD doesn’t turn Bet unopened into a read on your badge, but anyone looking at your numbers can see it. If yours sits under 30%, observant players will bet whenever you check and fold when you bet. If it’s over 60%, they’ll check good hands to you and check-raise or check-call more.
To check yourself, read the street numbers and the heads-up and multiway split together. A sensible pattern is a higher number heads-up than multiway and a gradual drop from flop to river. Two common leaks: never betting when checked to after calling preflop, and betting every flop then giving up on the turn. Fix the second by checking more flops with hands that can’t continue to the turn.
Using it on the HUD
On the table badges, Bet unopened shows for everyone in the hand when nobody holds the lead (a limped flop, for example), for players in position after the street before was checked back, and for a player who just made a plain bet that isn’t a c-bet, donk bet, probe or stab. It picks the heads-up or multiway version that matches the pot and steps back to the all-pots number when that version has fewer than 12 chances; the tooltip says which one you’re seeing.
Gold means above 60%, blue below 30%, and a number with fewer than 12 chances shows faded. Chances come fairly quickly, but a sample still matters: a 50% reading carries ±9 points of error after 30 chances and ±5 after 100. Treat a flop number on 30 chances as a lean, and river numbers as noisier, since fewer hands reach the river.
Bet unopened has no read hint: the color is all you get, never a sentence about the player. Read it with bet when checked to, c-bet and aggression factor.
Questions
What does bet unopened mean in poker?
Bet unopened is how often a player bets when they act on a street with no bet in front of them, either first to act or after checks. It counts every kind of bet: c-bets, donk bets, stabs, probes and plain bets in limped pots. PokerNow HUD Advanced keeps it separately for the flop, turn and river, heads-up and multiway.
What is a good bet unopened percentage?
Anywhere from 30% to 60% on each street is normal, and that’s the HUD’s typical range. Where you should sit depends on your role: a preflop raiser bets more flops because most of their chances are c-bet spots, while a caller bets fewer. Heads-up numbers should run higher than multiway ones, and the river number is usually lower than the flop.
Bet unopened vs c-bet: what’s the difference?
C-bet only counts the player who holds the lead, the preflop raiser on the flop and the player who kept betting after that. Bet unopened counts every player whenever they could bet with no bet in front, so it includes c-bets plus donk bets, stabs, probes and bets in limped pots. Use c-bet for the raiser’s spot and Bet unopened for everyone else.
Is bet unopened the same as bet when checked to?
No. Bet when checked to only counts chances where at least one player before them checked. Bet unopened also counts the streets where they were first to act. The gap between the two shows how often they lead: a player at 55% when checked to but 35% overall bets first much less often than they bet behind a check.