888poker: Use This Overbetting Strategy to Get Max Value

Overbets are a powerful tool in No Limit Hold’em that you can use to punish your opponents, both to get value and as a bluff. How and when to use them is an important skill to master if you want to be a great poker player.

In this Made to Play tutorial from 888poker, ambassador Ian Simpson shares tips on how to apply overbetting when at the tables.

The Scenario

In the following scenario, the button opens to 120 with AA and the big blind calls. The flop is K54, the big blind check-calls a bet of 300 and the button’s continuation bet. The turn is the J and it is a blank card for our opponent as it doesn’t really help the big blinds range all that much.

The big blind checks, and the button has a decision point. This exact scenario is one where the GTO line involves betting the turn with a sizing that is bigger than the pot, which leads on to the next section.

Breaking Down Our Range

This is where we need to break our range down into three categories. We have very strong hands like aces, ace-king, king-jack, and pocket fives. We have mid-strength hands with showdown value like pockets sevens, ace-five, and jack-ten suited. These hands are happy to control the size of the pot. We don’t want to bet again because a hand like pocket sevens will struggle to get a worse hand to call. After all, hands like six-five are often folding. Our opponent will rarely fold a hand better than pocket sevens, so if betting doesn’t get a worse hand to call or get a better hand to fold, we don’t want to bet here.

Now, here is where overbetting comes in.

Our very strong hands want to go big for value. Given the preflop and flop action, we know something about the opponent’s range. When the opponent calls the flop bet, we can narrow their range to straight and flush draws, some ace-high hands and pairs. They sometimes have two pair and sets, but they’ll often check-raise those on the flop.

Against this range, our very strong hands can bet big for value. Pocket aces, pocket fives, king-five suited, and the like are doing very well against this range and want to shovel chips in. They’ll have to continue with their draws and top pairs because we’ll do this with bluffs here, too. And they ay even continue with some weaker holdings as well.

Using an overbet with these hands maximizes the value we can get from them.

This leaves us with our final category of hands: hands worse than one pair.

Some of these we’re going to use bluff. A hand like 107 can overbet bluff here. Our opponent will be forced to fold ace-high hands and many of their weak pairs of fives and fours. We can also use flush draws like A6 and straight draws like Qx10x. Using an overbet with these hands maximizes our fold equity versus their mid-strength hands.

Don’t Overdo It

The trick is not to overdo it here because if we bluff all our flush, straight draws, and junk hands, there will be two consequences.

First, our betting range would be too weak, letting our opponents bluff-catch us profitably. Second, our checking back range wouldn’t contain any draws, so we couldn’t have the nuts on a heart or straightening river.

Now, when we bet, what size should we use exactly?

Geometric Sizing Explained

You might have seen the phrase 2E or 3E in poker jargon before. The E stands for equal, and the number indicates how many bets are to be made to be all-in.

In the example used above, we’re going to use 2E, which is two equal bets: one on the turn and one on the river, so that we are all-in with the last bet.

In the example used, the pot was 930 by the time we got to the turn. The exact maths to calculate 2E can be a little tricky to do on the fly, so don’t worry too much about having to use the exact right size. In game, we bet 1,200, making the pot 3,330, leaving us with an overbet of 3,800 behind.

The River Overbet Jam

The opponent called our turn overbet, and the river card is the J. Our opponent checks, and another overbet opportunity is left for us here, both for value and as a bluff. Our full houses, flushes and pocket aces make for great value bets. Having used 2E from the turn onwards allows us to get all the money in versus their weaker hands in two equal bets. Our bluffs will mainly come from hands like queen-ten and queen-nine offsuit with a heart. If we bluffed all of our hands that didn’t improve and didn’t have a heart blocker, we would end up bluffing too much again, making our opponent’s bluff-catchers very profitable.

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

FAQ

Can you win real money at WPT Global?

Can you win real money at WPT Global?

Yes, you can win real money at WPT Global. WPT Global also offer the chance to win seats in any number of exciting live tournaments.

How many decks are used in poker?

how many decks are used in poker?

In most popular poker variants, such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha, a standard deck of 52 playing cards is used. Each deck contains four suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades) and consists of 13 ranks (Ace, 2 through 10, and the face cards: Jack, Queen, and King).

However, it’s important to note that the number of decks used in poker can vary depending on the specific game or variation being played. For example, some poker tournaments or cash games may use multiple decks to speed up the gameplay or reduce the frequency of card shuffling. In such cases, it is common to use two or more decks that are shuffled together.

What is the bonus code for WPT Global Poker 2023?

What is the bonus code for WPT Global Poker 2023?

We’ll save you time. The best bonus code for WPT Global is WPT777. By entering the bonus code, players will get a welcome bonus 100% up to $1,200 on the first deposit. The minimum deposit is $20.

What is the best WPT Global bonus code?

What is the best World Poker Tour bonus code?

Use the WPT Global bonus code WPT777 when registering to get a 100% deposit bonus up to $1200 plus a $100 No Deposit poker bonus.

What is the WPT bonus code?

What is the WPT bonus code?

The WPT bonus code is WPT777. Use this code at WPTglobal.com to get up to $1200 poker bonus. This code has been approved by WPT Global and gives new users the maximum new user offer.

This site only collects related articles. Viewing the original, please copy and open the following link:888poker: Use This Overbetting Strategy to Get Max Value

🔥 🎀 WPT Global 🎹
🔥 news 🎥 🔥 poker-players 🎪
🎸 Featured 🔥
# Article Title Keyword Article Link Article Details