Overbetting All-In

Quite a few players are reluctant to move all-in when to do so would take a large overbet of the pot. I think a major factor in this reluctance is they feel going all-in gives their hand away and thus deprives them of a money-making opportunity. However, many of these same players will call a big overbet of the pot size because they put the opponent on a steal. I don’t think you can have it both ways. If the overbet is probably a steal move, you should be willing to do it with a good hand. If the overbet is probably a big hand, you should be willing to use the all-in move as a bluff or semibluff.

Here is a hand sent to me by a client. It involves the possibility of an all-in preflop reraise from the big blind that provokes a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of all-in raises that occur in many no-limit poker situations.

“I was playing in a 9-handed $1-$2 blinds game at a well-known Las Vegas casino. I had a $200 stack and the other players had at least that amount. The first player opened with a raise to $12. He has been pretty active with raises, but not crazy by any means. (I would guess the low end of his range to be A-J and 9-9). Two middle position players and a late position player call. I am in the big blind with pocket queens and debating whether to call or reraise. I don’t like reraising an under-the-gun raiser when holding two queens unless he is raising on a whole lot of hands, but I also don’t like just calling and playing a big pot out of position with two queens. What do you think?”

Here was my answer: “Regarding the above hand, when there is a preflop raise and a long string of callers like this, putting in a reraise with a solid hand is a good idea. Make sure it is a large reraise. A call would make a pot of $60. This is too big a pot to just call holding queens. A reraise should overbet the pot size, so reraising to $100 is more appropriate than making it $60 or $70. But your stack is only $200. I would not want to get called for $100 and hope an overcard did not beat me, because I feel pot-committed and would probably be obliged to bet the rest of my money. So I believe you have a clear play of moving all-in. If the preflop raiser has kings or aces, you were a goner anyway if you had reraised. You cannot make a bad decision once you are all-in! Furthermore, you will often get action from someone who thinks you are trying to steal with a big all-in reraise – a play that I might be making.”

Note that my general prohibition against reraising with queens when holding a big stack of 100 times the big blind does not apply when there is a lot of money in the pot, and for practical purposes, only one guy to get through; the preflop raiser.

The rest of the players are mostly an optical illusion of competition. The reason, of course, is when there is an upfront opening raise, a big pair in someone else’s hand is very likely to reraise. There is a decent chance of getting action, because the open-raiser normally has a good hand. Furthermore, if the big pair smooth-calls the raise, that play may well bring in a large field, which will seriously reduce the chance of the big pair winning without improvement. On the flop, the preflop raiser may well bet, which forces the player with a big pair to act with that field lurking behind him. Obviously, if there are callers of the opening raise in front of you, the failure to reraise passes up a fine opportunity to either win the pot or eliminate all but one opponent.

Do you expect the big blind to be stealing in this type of situation or to have a good hand? In general, I think the all-in raiser normally has either a legitimate hand such as aces, kings, queens, or A-K, or a hand of lesser quality that is not totally unprepared to get called, such as A-Q, J-J, or T-T. The player is seldom going to be on a cold steal, because there is a clear danger of getting called.

Whether the reraiser will actually show up with a big hand depends on a number of factors (including whether they were dealt one). Who the person is that does it? How often does he put in a big raise or reraise? Is the player stuck or in front? Let’s talk about these issues.

If the player has shown the all-in move several times, one will be suspicious of him. Is the player new to your game? Now stereotypes come into play. A guy with grey or white hair will be put on a good hand. A middle-aged woman will scare anyone with less than kings. On the other hand, a player in his twenties is more like to get action, as is a player whose racial or ethnic background is from a culture that likes to gamble. What is sauce for the goose is not necessarily sauce for the gander. There is no general rule whether a person will be put on a big hand or not when they move all-in.

How likely is a player who is stuck going to move all-in after a raise that has been called in several places? Even though someone who is losing is likely to be looking to play a big pot, my opinion is that most of the time they are going to call and hope for a good flop if holding a pocket pair less than jacks. That way, they have a legitimate chance to really win a monster pot and get unstuck. On the other hand, if they hold A-K, all their money will probably go in preflop.

An important factor is whether this all-in wager was done in a tournament game or a cash game. Even though the players here have deep stacks of 100 times the big blind or greater, there is more risk-taking in a tournament, as the players are aware of the blinds going up regularly and often try to accumulate chips ahead of time. And if this had occurred during a rebuy period, all-in bets of this nature would be highly suspicious.

I hope you will see from our discussion that moving all-in with a big overbet of the pot size holding a big hand that you feel is the likely winner is a legitimate no-limit move that you should want to have in your arsenal. You will sometimes get called – and win when the opponents all fold. On the other hand, you should also be willing to move all-in on occasion with a big overbet of the pot size when a call would be unwelcome. If you want to be a good all-around no-limit player, you need to use both of these weapons. ♠

Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered (autographed to you) from Bob by e-mail: [email protected]. Free U.S. shipping to Card Player readers. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons at a reasonable rate. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert’s Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org.