Some Limit to Over Cards

 Some Limit to Over Cards

The feeling of dripping paint on the downside of your hole cards, brings a feeling of relaxation. A-K. A-Q, K-Q. Q-J. They're all hands that bring forth confidence, often times, very playable ones, especially in the right position. Sometimes greed or other things take control, and your once beautiful hand turns south toward disaster.

The fact alone that the over card is easy to fall in love with, can make for an incredibly tricky hand to play well if they don't connect with the board. So how do you avoid going broke when you come up empty on the flop? Have a sense of control and now how to fold them!

Let's say you're in late position or in the blinds with over-cards and are facing an all-in bet after seeing a ragged flop like 7-5-2 rainbow. Does this get tricky? The answer is of course as poker always says, "it depends".

First, what is your opponent betting on? Top pair, a set, maybe two pair. Your read of your opponent's hand should become your influenced deciding factor because if he's holding anything but a set, you may have, at that point the right odds to call.

That brings you to your next very important question; what is his bet worth in terms of your stack, and the pot? If your opponent's all-in bet is equivalent to half the pot or less, I think you would be committed to have to call with any two over-cards so long as you feel they are still live, and you do not think they are sitting on a
big over pair. Over-cards give you six potential outs to the board, meaning that you're only about a 3-1 dog against top pair if you have no straight or flush draw possibilities. Your over-cards may even be ahead if you think your opponent is pushing all-in on his own draw or is bluffing at the pot.

In situations where you're not facing an all-in bet, the decision becomes a little harder because you must not only consider the size of your opponent's current bet, but also look at the size of his next potential bet. If you're both deep stacked and you call on the flop, you could find yourself facing a sizable bet on the turn. In this situation, I believe mucking your hand and looking for a better spot is the preferred option.

Another thing to consider in this type of situation is your position relative to your opponent. If you're playing from position, you may want to consider staying in the hand even if you miss the flop – especially if you can do so cheaply. For one thing, calling a cheap bet on the flop might let you hit one of your overs, giving you what may likely be the best hand. For another thing, being in position can let you try and steal the pot away on the turn or river if your opponent shows further weakness on those streets.

Facing this same situation out of position is much further against you as your opponent has control of the hand and gets to act behind you on every street. I'm much more likely to throw my over-cards away here and look to play a better hand later on.

While position can be a key factor in determining if you carry on with your over-cards, the texture of the board is also something to be considered. On a flop like the one earlier – 8-5-3 rainbow – I'm much more likely to at least see the turn with my two over-cards than I am if the flop is more coordinated, like 9-8-7 or something that brings flush or straight draw possibilities. Why? Because unless my opponent is holding a pocket pair, it's just as likely that he missed the flop the same way I did. On a more coordinated flop, there are more ways for my opponent to connect and, even if I hit one of my cards, I could be drawing dead against a flush or straight.

If I'm in a pot with multiple opponents, I'm even more likely to play my over-cards conservatively because there are that many more hands that can easily beat me. Where I might try to continuation bet the flop against a single player, I'll almost certainly check against multiple players because I don't want to give someone the chance to raise behind me and force me to give up chips I don't need to waste.

If someone does bet and another player calls, I can very easily give up my hand without having lost too much. If, on the other hand, someone else bets and the action folds back to me, I can determine whether I want to fold, call or possibly even raise in an attempt to steal the pot myself.

When all is said and done, the key to playing over-cards successfully is NEVER TO FALL IN LOVE with your starting hand no matter how sexy it may first appear. Play your hand smart after the flop and you can avoid an ugly result.