Small bet or Monster overbet with a big hand

[call_me_CHEF]

I'm mostly a B+M player, but wondering what everyones opinion is on this.

Do you prefer to make small bets with hands when you're positive that you are ahead or overbet the pot with them?

I have been having much more success lately with overbetting the pot in these situations, usually getting paid off. Most of the time I think my opponent views it as a bluff and usually calls.

Just wondering what everyones opinion is on this.

-Chef

[LugNutz]

I think, as with anything poker, it depends on your table environment. You would need to find a balance between betting enough to make it worthwhile vs betting too much to scare away middling hands.

Of course, my reply was probably too vague but I think that is the nature of poker. Decisions will always be made based on how you see your game, your stack, the other players, etc. I don't know if there can be specific answers.

That's just my opinion though


Lug

[SteveO]

Mix it up. I usually try to avoid putting all my chips in pot or overplaying a hand for fear of a trap or bad beat. I would overbet to push out the draws. Sometimes slowplay and sometimes push to mix it up and keep table off balance a bit.

Also, like you said, sometimes players mistake your big bet for a steal/bluff and make a stupid or marginal call. This is particularly true of younger AC players who watch too much poker on TV.

If you do both and show down some big hands the next time you can steal a pot with a marginal hand with the overbet.

[Mookie]

I must qualify this with the fact that I am totally an on-liner NLHE player.

Chef-fy, I believe this in one of those....depending on the situation. Table image, position, flop, opponents tendencies, even chip stacks will influence my decision here.

Having said that, and assuming now that this is a showdown, I typically have bet what I think my opponent will call. Usually 4 to 6 BB's has been my choice. My reasoning was that over betting will win a bluff, but usually doesn' t get more chips into the pot.

I am trying to incorporate over betting into my play however. I'm not sure if I read this on FTR or elsewhere but I think it's worth testing "....over betting the nuts, even if you're only called a small percentage of the time, is financially advantageous over a small bet..."

This seems to be where you're coming from. It sounds promising so I think I'll get right on that test

I enjoy your posts Chef, keep em coming.

[dalecooper]

I sometimes like to throw the hammer down with a ridiculous all-in bet. There's enough people out there that view any all-in as a bluff that you will get called more often than you'd think. Conversely, so many people now fear the check-raise and slowplay that if they don't have a great hand themselves, they'll run away at the first obvious sign of slowplay.

[FlyingSaucy]

I'd have to agree that it depends mostly on two factors: your table image, the person you are playing.

In tourney play I've noticed that if you are against an astute player, you've gone all in at least once before in an apparent steal, and the astute player is short stacked, go for the monster over bet - they'll go all in with an inferior hand.

[call_me_CHEF]

Mookie-

Mainly I am referring to a turn or post flop bet....when my opponent has a decent hand or a good drawing hand--- for instance this weekend:

Me 10 10 in the small blind

$45 or so in preflop

flop is 3 3 Q rainbow

i bet 15, raised to 35 by dude on my left....i put him on a good Q at this point.. fairly loose player who seems to overvalue high cards, as I think he has QJ or QK, in which he is the 3rd caller to a raise.

Turn 10

I check, he bets 50, I raise all in 250.....

he thinks for a bit and calls....turns over QJo, and MHIG!

I don't know how he didn't put me on at least a 3 with the check raise.

Maybe a bad example because he was a bad player......

But I like to use this play on the turn primarily because it really looks like a steal attempt, but can serve the same purpose on the river as well.

I agree with steve0--- many of the new young ESPN/travel channel trained poker "pros" feel that bluffing is 60-75% of the game. I had a guy go through the raymer "put my glasses on and stare straight ahead" ritual every time he got involved in a pot.......in LIMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing AT this guy....not with him....directly at him..."DUDE....are you serious??"

Its nice to take advantage of their mentality.

-Chef