Playing Overpairs
When holding large pocket
pairs, the most likely flop is an over pair.
When you flop an over pair, it means you have a
pair higher (or over) the board. When a poker
player flops an over pair in Texas Holdem, he
frequently wants to play them aggressively.
Playing an over pair in an aggressive manner is
not necessarily incorrect, as overpairs are
usually the best hand on the flop. However,
there are instances when slowing down (playing
passively, as opposed to aggressively), results
in more money getting into the center of the
pot.
Generally, one should not
slowplay a hand unless it is not vulnerable.
Unfortunately, while overpairs are strong, they
are sometimes not strong enough to justify
playing slowly. When playing against a
habitually aggressive player or against a player
who often bluffs when a player shows weakness,
passively playing an overpair can be quite
effective.
Scenario:
$1-2 NL Texas
Holdem - full nine handed table. We are in the
big blind with $211 in chips. The under the gun
player is an aggressive player who has yet to
open the pot without raising preflop. He has yet
to show down a hand, as he tends to use
aggression to bully players beyond the flop. He
holds $200 in chips.
The under the gun player
raises to $8, which has been his standard raise.
Action folds around to us, where we see pocket
Kings. We are sure to have the best hand and
wish to see how the opposition plays when we put
pressure back to him. If we flat-call, we will
have issues in narrowing down his hand range.
Thus, we take the tight aggressive approach
preflop by reraising to $20. The UTG player
calls. Our plan is to play most flops passively,
as this player likes to play aggressively after
the flop as well.
The flop comes Three of
Clubs, Jack of Spades, Two of hearts. We have
flopped an overpair. Our plan was to check most
flops to let the opposing player continue as
comfortably as possible, as we do not wish to
give him reason not to place money into the pot.
A continuation bet on our reraise could scare
him out of the pot. We check the $40 pot.
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The UTG player bets $28,
which is nearly three-quarters of the pot. We
flat call, with hopes that he fires a second
bullet on the turn. If the player fires on the
turn, our plan is to call, unless the player
commits himself mathematically to the pot. In
such event, we will raise all-in. Otherwise, we
check-call the turn and bet the river.
The turn delivers a 5 of
diamonds. While the board has become more
coordinated, there is no reason to fear this
turn card. We check. With $96 in the pot, the
opposition bets $50, which is a little more than
half the pot. The player has $102 left after the
$50 bet. Prior to my action, the pot contains
$156.
When thinking through the
possible actions, we first must consider the
opposition’s holdings. It is possible he is
holding an overpair, a set, or even Ace Jack.
Moreover, we have not seen a hand shown down
yet, so we cannot be certain of his standards.
We can be sure; however, that he is
mathematically committed and the $50 bet has
thrust him over the commitment threshold.
If we wait for the river card
to push our chips into the center, the player
could fold, especially if the board scares him
(4 cards to the straight, for example).
Additionally, this player could also hold a hand
containing an ace. Thus, he could make his hand
while being pot committed but absent his entire
stack in the center of the table. If the
opposing player is going to call the river bet,
he will call a raise to all-in here. Thus, we
move all-in. The player calls our all-in bet.
The river delivers a seven of
spades. The opposing player shows pocket queens,
and we rake in a pot of $400. It turned out that
the aggressive opposition happened to have a
great hand there as well. It is reasonable to
suspect he would have responded aggressively if
we would have played back at him on the flop in
this instance. However, we assumed he was a
bullying player who was more comfortable taking
the lead. We wanted his chips in the center and
felt passive post-flop play was the best way to
accomplish this. After observing this player for
the balance of the session, he did enjoy
bullying players, and it was merely coincidental
that he had a premium hand when against us.
Thus, we can conclude that our passive posture
with the overpair against this bullying player
was the most profitable and appropriate strategy
against this type of poker player.
