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Texas Holdem Poker Tips – Betting scale
The development of modern poker technology and the use of poker software has allowed professional poker players to have more options for betting scales. However, whenever a new fad starts to flourish in the online poker scene, it is almost guaranteed that half of the poker players who try this new way of playing will go astray. Overbet, which has become popular in the last two years, is one such novelty. This guide will help you use overbet play in a smart way and avoid falling into the trap of overbetting in all the wrong situations.
Your range should be uncapped
Uncapped means that you still have access to all the strongest hands in a given public deck. If you subsequently check or check-call on a wet flop, it is likely that your range is capped. In a small blind against a big blind, raising with a dark three against a consistent bet on a 7-5-3 flop is the right move, so calling on this flop will exclude the nuts from your range. If the turn sends a complete blank card, such as a non-flush queen, it is almost impossible for you to get a superb hand. So when the small blind player checks against you on the turn, overbetting rarely works in your favor, especially when some veteran opponent checks here with a protected range that includes some top pair and high pair. If you decide to fire, it’s better to make a standard scale bet of 2/3 of the bottom pot size. Your range is very weak. You lack the strength to overbet for value, so unless your opponent is timid and unthinking, bluffing with an overbet is unconscionable.
A better occasion to overbet is as a small blind player on the same 7-5-3-Q public board. If he bets on the turn, it makes sense to make a bet 1.3 times the size of the bottom pot, because he may still get all the strongest cards in his range, while the big blind player cannot.
An opponent’s range should be capped
A player’s range is capped when it is impossible for his range to include the strongest hand possible for a given public deck. Here is a situation where your range is not capped and your opponent’s range is capped.
The CO player raises first preflop and you decide to call in the big blind. The flop is 8♥ 7♥ 4♠, you check, and your opponent then checks. the turn is 2♦, and it is your turn to act. On the flop ring your opponent will almost certainly bet with his dark trips, two pair and most high pairs – it is very important for him to make a big bottom pot. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that he will hold those best hands. On the other hand, you are just programmed to check against the raiser with your entire range. therefore, you may still get all the best cards. So, when you bluff or value bet here, you can go with a large scale and not worry about running into a big hand. Just as you would make a value bet with a dark three, you can make a bluff bet of 1.4x the pot with a flush draw.
Let’s say we lead a raise in CO position and are called by the big blind player. The flop is J♣ 4♣ 2♠, the opponent checks, and we make a continuation bet. The opponent calls and then the turn card is 9♣. The problem with making an overbet here is that the opponent’s range is uncapped. He can call a flop-ring bet with many flush hear cards, and if we overbet now, we sometimes run into the nuts and are severely penalized. Therefore, it is wiser to choose a more standard betting scale of about 3/4 of the pot size in such situations. When your opponent’s antes are at the top of his range, you can still put some pressure on him and not lose too much money.
Overbetting with a bipolar range
Bipolar means sucking to take a certain action with strong value cards and bluffs, excluding any middle cards. It doesn’t make much sense to overbet with a medium hand; the bigger we bet, the stronger the range our opponents will call. When we hold a super strong hand, overbetting makes sense because we can beat our opponent’s strong hand. When we are holding a pure bluff hand, it is also reasonable to overbet because we will not only encounter stronger hands, but force many weak hands to fold that could have beaten us at showdown. However, if we overbet with a medium hand, we will only be folding many of the hands that we would have beaten at showdown and losing extra money to better hands in our opponents’ range. If we intend to overbet, we must do so with a polarizing range.
Blocker
A blocker is a hand that makes it more difficult (or impossible) for our opponents to get a specific hand. It is a good idea to make an overbid bluff when we have an undercard that blocks a stronger hand. On a K♦ 7♦ 3♣ 4♣ 8♦ public board, we can choose to overbet bluff with A♦ Q♠, because the A♦ we have makes it impossible for our opponents to get a nut flush. Overbetting works well here, because our blocking hand tells us that our opponent’s range is capped. We may get the nuts and our opponent cannot.
Overbetting with value cards is the opposite: we shouldn’t block our opponent’s strong-catching swindles. For example, suppose we bet as a pre-flop raiser on the flop circle, and then the turn circle public board is 10♠ 6♥ 4♣ 2♦, and since we get two tens, we make it hard for our opponent to get top pair. Therefore, we are better off making smaller value bets that can get the second largest pair (6x) or the third largest opponent (4x) to call. I’m still making about a 3/4 bottom pot size bet here.
Summary
- When used properly, overbetting is a powerful weapon in your arsenal.
- Overbet when your range is uncapped.
- Overbet when your opponent’s range is capped.
- Overbet with a polarized range. Don’t overbet with a medium hand.
- Overbetting for value when you have not blocked your opponent’s best bluff.
- When you block your opponent’s best hand, overbet to bluff.
