What Do Overbets Mean

What do Over-bets Mean? Players who are betting more than the size of the pot will more times than not have played the hand weaker than they should have. Most players who fire a gross over bet at the pot will have played a hand like pocket Aces so badly that they are desperate to get the value back that they lost on previous streets. You can look at players like this in one of two ways. First, they are most likely losing players who don’t have a clue how to play the game, and are just there to sit for an hour or two and eventually lose. In their mind they are probably gambling, and you should look for these players when you are sitting in cash games.

The second view of a player like this is that if they are there to gamble they could be empty a decent amount of the time. You can pick up a value over the amount you should for your hand if you pick your spots wisely. Sometimes the second type of player can be scary because if they are entering a hand with an over bet of the pot and continuing to bet more than what is in the pot, eventually they will have hands, and you could get tricked in to paying them off. The key to looking at the second type of player as opposed to the first is to see if they are playing a lot of hands; virtually every hand. If the player is entering every hand for a raise, and you finally get a pair like Jacks then sometimes it is best to gamble with them. They are applying a lot of pressure and putting you to decisions so why not trap the aggressor, and get all of their poker bonus money.

But, going back to the first type of player, they will most likely be checking a lot in the hand or betting the minimum or raising the minimum. All of a sudden the hand is on the turn or river and they fire a bet double the size of the pot. You are sitting with top pair and wondering if it’s good. Since you have invested little in the pot because of their small bets the best play is just to lay the hand down, and play on. If you are losing the least then you have played the hand fine if your opponent is ahead. Most of the time if you’ve only invested a small amount to see a free card or two you should be happy to lay the hand down cheaply. The trouble you can get in to is if you are holding a hand like two pair or better and see a player like this over bet the size of the pot. This makes you more curious and makes you think you want to call more than if you only had top pair. The correct play here however is up for interpretation because depending on the board you can shove all-in and get a call and be good, or you can shove all-in, and be way behind. The play not to make is to just call the over bet. If a player makes a big wager, and you feel like you are ahead then put all the money in the pot.