I notice on Replay that there is very little overbetting. I created this quiz so hopefully more people can understand when to overbet.
Note: In many of these situations other bet sizes can also work. In spots where you can bet 200% pot, you can often bet 150% pot as well.
Assume you are playing 3-max with 2 strong tight-aggressive players with 100bb stacks.
- You hold T♦9♦ on the BU and open to 2.5bb. SB folds, BB calls.
Flop comes 9♥8♦7♥(5.5bb pot), BB checks, what should you do?
a. Check
b. Bet 50% pot
c. Bet 100% pot
d. Bet 200% pot
Answer
b. Bet 50% pot
On this board texture, BB will have many draws and many strong hands including straights and two pair. T9 with top pair and a straight draw is strong enough to bet to deny equity and get value from worse pairs.
The question is how big? Betting too large will just result in running into too many strong hands and folding out worse hands. BU needs to choose a smaller size to extract value from worse pairs. In addition, by choosing a smaller sizing, BU will be able to bet more often and deny equity more often.
- You look down to Q♦Q♥ on the BU and open to 2.5bb. SB folds, BB calls.
Flop comes A♥J♦T♣(5.5bb pot), BB checks, You bet 2.5bb, BB calls.
Turn comes 5♦(10.5bb pot), BB checks, what should you do?
a. Check
b. Bet 50% pot
c. Bet 100% pot
d. Bet 200% pot
Answer
d. Bet 200% pot
The first thing is to recognize that this board texture heavily favors BU. BB will 3bet AA, JJ, TT and a decent chunk of KQ and AJ, and as a result, BB will have very little two-pair or better. BU wants to go all-in by the river with AT and stronger and needs to overbet. Because BB’s rarely has strong hands, BB is forced to call with some top pairs facing an overbet or risk being overrun by bluffs.
QQ is one of BU’s best bluff candidates as it blocks KQ. It does have some showdown value, but a 200% pot bet will get some top pairs to fold and will still get called by worse, specifically pair + draw. (If BB does decide to call the turn bet, QQ will check river.)
- You hold Q♦6♦ on the BB. BU opens to 2.5bb, SB folds, you call.
Flop comes 6♥6♣9♥(5.5bb pot), You check, BU checks.
Turn comes A♦, what should you do?
a. Check
b. Bet 50% pot
c. Bet 100% pot
d. Bet 200% pot
Answer
d. Bet 200% pot
BU should bet most trips on the flop, so BB has a big trips advantage. When the aces comes on the turn, BU will have many strong top pairs. It doesn’t make much sense for BB to weak pairs since BB will run into many top pairs. BB will mainly be betting trips. Thus, BB should overbet (or occasionally check-raise) to extract the maximum value from a top pair and try to push the trips advantage as much as possible.
- You have A♦J♥ on the BU and open to 2.5bb. SB folds, BB calls.
Flop comes Q♦9♦6♦ (5.5bb pot), BB checks, You bet 2bb, BB calls
Turn comes 2♥(9.5bb pot), BB checks, You bet 9bb, BB calls.
River comes 3♥(27.5bb pot), BB checks, what should you do?
a. Check
b. Bet 100% pot
c. Bet 200% pot
d. Bet all-in
Answer
a. Check
You hold the nut flush blocker, which makes the hand a poor candidate for bluffing since you block many of BB’s floats on the turn. The ideal bluff candidate is to hold a medium flush card like J♦, which blocks many flushes but unblocks nut flush draws. A hand like A♥J♦ would be a much better bluff.
However, BU can have an overbet range on this board. BU will have more flushes as BB will check-raise some flushes on the flop and turn. Thus, BU jam a small amount of strong flushes for value.
How did you do? Did you learn anything?
Hopefully, we’ll see more overbetting on Replay.