A little bit about Overcalling
Has this ever happened to you? Someone bets and sometimes you just don’t know for sure what that bet from the first player really means. But before you act, someone calls. The one thing you do know for sure is that, even though the bettor could have anything, the first player to call him has to have something. If you are the next player after that first caller, then you have some analytical thinking to do.
First, you have to think about what kind of poker hand the original bettor might have. Does he have a good hand, or does he have squat? Secondly, you have to think about what kind of hand the first caller thinks the bettor might have. Since he called first, knowing that you are behind him and you could possibly raise, you usually have to give him credit for a reasonably good hand. Don’t you?
When making your decision, you really need to figure out what the first caller has. Does he have a garbage hand, which can beat only a bluff, and is he hoping you won call? Does he have a hand that is not great, but he’s calling because the pot is very large and he can’t bring himself to laying down a possible winner? Or does he have the nuts, and he just calls, hoping to get you to either call or raise? Good questions huh?
Like most situations, it helps tremendously if you know the players in question. I have four easy questions that can be your guide:
1. Is the person betting an extremely loose player, and has the caller called because he is also a loose player? If the answer to both is yes, then either one of them could have anything. If you are undecided, calling is correct.
2. Is the person betting a loose player, and is the caller a tight player? If so, you can safely assume that the caller has a good read on the bettor and the caller isn’t throwing money away. If you are undecided, you should fold.
3. Is the person betting a tight player and the caller a loose player? A tight player who is first to act is capable of bluffing in this situation. The loose player is capable of calling with anything. In this spot, you should consider calling more often here, unless you know for sure that the first player just doesn bluff in this position, or you know that he has a habit of checking his good hands.
4. Are the bettor and caller both tight players? If so, then you will usually need a much better hand than usual to overcall.
The bottom line above all else is that you need to know if these players are actually good players. The better they both are, the more credit you should give the first caller. The first caller is the key player in this equation. If you know he’s a good, solid, experienced player who makes superior quality decisions, you can take advantage of that information.
Theres an easy mental exercise you can perform next time you play that will help you make better decisions when considering an overcall. Overcalling is not wrong and just because someone calls before you act doesn’t mean you should auto muck your hand. You need to evaluate each situation carefully.
The next time you play in your usual game, you should keep track of the times that you make an overcall on the river. You need to remember how many big bets you win and lose when in these situations. If you overcall and lose the hand, count that as a one-bet loss. If you overcall and win the hand, count the number of big bets in the pot, minus your calling bet. All you have to do is keep a running, cumulative count of bets won and lost. Your goal is to always have a positive running count. If you have a negative count, then you are not giving the first caller enough credit and you
e overcalling too much.
Correctly overcalling is important because you have a chance to do the wrong thing so many times during the course of the game. When you have an opportunity to put a lot of big bets per hour into action, you can see that an incorrect strategy can have an immediate, big negative impact on your hourly rate. This is one aspect of the game that you can easily work on and is well worth your time and effort.
Until next time, may the chips fall your way
