I had a virus attack on my mail box recently and unfortunately lost a lot of e-mails. So I want to apologize to all of you that I haven’t been able to get back to. But now the mail is up and running again and I got this one from Tom, which I thought I should share with you all.

“Hi Mike,

I am mostly playing 1-2 and 2-4 No Limit Holdem, and there is one particular move that seem to have become a lot more common online recently – the over bet.  Players that bet considerably more than the pot. My question is, how should I handle over bets from others and when is a good time to use it?

Regards,
Tom”

This is an interesting question. I also see more and more players over bet when I play online. There is no patented way to handle this, and it is off course hard for me to say what you should do in a particular situation. But in general I would say that in order to call an over bet you either need a very strong hand or a really good read on your opponent. What you have to ask yourself when faced with an over bet is: what does my opponent want to achieve with this bet?

Poor players tend to over bet when they are bluffing, because they feel that their bluff is more powerful when they bet a lot.  They might also do it when they have the nuts. But I would say that it is more common that they bluff, because when they have strong hands they are usually scared that the opponents will fold if they bet too much and therefore bet less. So when faced with an over bet from a bad player you have to ask yourself do I believe he has it or not? In order to call an over bet you should be pretty sure that you have the best hand, because your pot odds will usually not be that good. You will risk a lot, but you also have the chance to win a big pot.

If you are up against strong, hyper aggressive players, playing a Doyle Brunson type of poker, I only have one advice to give you: wait until you have a very strong hand before you call. There is no point risking your whole stack with weak hands against players like this. Be patient and get your money in the middle when you have the goods.

The same goes when you are up against a maniac that over bets almost every hand. This is one of my favorite types of opponents. There is no reason to take unnecessary risks against players like this either. Just keep cool, play solid hands, and you will get their money in the end. (You could push more hands against players like this with the chance of winning a lot of money, but remember that your swings will be a lot bigger too.)

When is a good tome to make an over bet? I like to make over bets with strong hands against poor players. This move will lots of time induce a call, because they think your bet is fishy and won’t give you credit for a hand. I also like to over bet the nuts, when the board holds a very strong hand. If there is a full house or a straight on the table and I have a higher straight or a better full house I like to make a substantial bet, pretending I am trying to steal the pot, in the hope that someone will call. The nice thing is that you don’t need to get called nearly every time in order for this bet to be profitable, because when you do you will win a very large pot. I rarely use over bets to bluff, and when I do I usually do it against weak players that I am sure will fold to a substantial bet.

Over bets are hard to handle and it is not easy to say how you should act in a given situation. But as I said, when faced with over bets proceed carefully and usually avoid calling without a strong hand or a very good read of the situation.