Overcalling on the River in Texas Hold'em
Overcalling on the River in Texas Hold'em
Recently I wrote about betting on the river. Now I want to refine that concept by talking about a special instance of betting on the river, the idea of overcalling. Overcalling is the term used for calling a bet after another player has called an initial bet. To overcall a bet, there must have been an initial bet and a call before you make your call. In short, at least two players in a hand must act before there can be an overcall. In this post I discuss overcalling on the river from the point of view of the overcaller against loose and tight opponents.
What Does a River Bet Mean?
When a player bets out on the river it does not signify a made hand. In fact, the river bet is often made when a draw is missed, when a pair didn't turn into a set, or when two pair miss a full house. Quite often the river bet is made with nothing more than a middle pair or, sometimes, even with air. On the other hand, the bettor may hold a very strong hand, even, perhaps the nuts that he cleverly disguised along each street of betting by check-calling to float more aggressive players and trap on the river. The one thing you know for sure, however, is this; no matter what the original bet means, the caller is not making his call with air. He has something. Just what he has depends on how the betting went in this multi-way pot. In addition, the first caller knows you are behind him and could just as easily raise in this spot which adds a bit of credibility to the callers hand.
What you must figure out is why the opponent to your right just called rather than raise. While it is likely that he is raising with some piece of the flop and turn, it does not mean that he has the best hand possible. If he did would he risk a raise behind him by not raising a meaningful amount to price opponents out of calling his raise?
Knowing Something about Your Opponents
The power of observation comes into play before you decide to overcall rather than fold or raise. Here are four simple questions that can help you decide what action to take when faced with the decision to overcall, fold or raise on the river.
Are both the bettor and caller loose players? If they are then either one or both of them could have anything from air to bottom pair to the nuts. With loose players, I tend to lean toward overcalling especially if I can close out the betting.
Is the bettor loose and the caller tight? In this case you are certain that the caller has a good hand. He probably has a fairly good read on the bettor as well and is betting because he is sure he can knock the bettor off the worst hand. A tight caller into a loose bettor on the river should send out warning buzzers in your head. Fold unless you have a monster hand.
Is the bettor tight and the caller loose? The tight player acting first may be bluffing at the pot. In this spot, the tight player will get more respect leading out than will a loose player while the loose player is fully capable of calling with any two cards. Of course, the tight player may also have the nuts in this case and then your call is dead money but because there is a more than reasonable chance that you are facing two possible bluffs even if the bluff is made for different reasons, this is a good time to overcall.
Are the bettor and caller tight players? A tight player is unlikely to open the betting against another tight player with a bluff and the tight caller is unlikely to make the call with a bluff. In fact, both players, if they are observant, will know the tendencies of the other and both will believe they hold the best hand in this spot. You should fold any hand that is not a very strong hand and in some cases you should fold with everything but the absolute nuts.
When faced with difficult decisions there is no substitute I know of for knowing your opponents. Are they tight or loose, aggressive or passive? Are they likely to fold to pressure? The only way to learn something about your opponents is through observation of their behavior at the poker table.
In poker, we are constantly called upon to make decisions based on incomplete information. We mostly do not know for certain what two cards our opponents hold in their hand. What we are privy to, however, is what they do, how they bet, how they handle pressure, are they willing to gamble or are they afraid to take big risks. We gain this information through observation thereby building a data base we can use to our advantage during play.
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