Most of the online poker community are picky with bet sizing, they like their standardised approach because it’s simple. But if we remove the taboo around making huge bets, they can actually be “good” bets in certain scenarios in games. In this post, we’re going to give three reasons why an over-bet can be awesome in any poker setting.

1] They confuse your opponents
A major part of winning at poker comes from the deception involved in tricking your opponent to what you have. You want them to think you’re strong when weak and vice versa. By using unorthodox sized bets like over-bets, you will confuse them and lead to them making mistakes.

This mentality of confusing your opponents should not be extended too far though. For instance, limping in poker may confuse a poker regular, but it’s not likely to improve your win rate.

2] They can be used for value and bluffs
Another reason why over-bets can be awesome is the differing reasons to use them. Against a nitty player, you can effectively use an over-bet as a bluff. By the same token, against a fishy calling station, you can liberally use an over-bet for value. Being able to switch from one to the other is neat as you can get the desired result, provided you are targeting the right opponent type.

A word of caution, be careful using this against strong players. A capable player will spot if you use it for value or bluffs against them quickly and render your over-bets pointless. Against competent players you need to be more creative and selective in over-betting.

3] They can tilt your opponents
If you’re observant you’ll notice that player who call huge bets and lose or fold and are unsure whether they get bluffed, they get frustrated. They are more inclined to tilt and this is a great by-product of over-betting. It gets players off their game which is brilliant for you. If you can get your opponent to tilt, they will be making more errors through paying you off, looser hand selection and making reckless bluffs. The evolution of poker has meant there are unique ways to get your players to make mistakes and over-betting into them is definitely one.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are persuasive reasons to over-bet from time to time. You can cause confusion, tilt your opponents and use them as bluffs or for value. If you use over-bets sparingly and in low stakes games, you can expect to do well in the future.