Overbet

Also known as: overbet, over-bet, overbetting

A bet larger than the pot, used by a polarized range with a nut advantage to maximize value and apply maximum pressure.

An overbet is any bet exceeding 100% of the pot. It's a polarisation tool: it makes sense when your range holds a clear nut advantage and is split between very strong hands and bluffs, with little in between. By laying the opponent worse pot odds, an overbet raises both your value extraction and the breakeven percentage your bluffs must clear — so it demands a disciplined bluff-to-value-ratio.

For a pot-fraction \(s\) (e.g. \(s=1.5\) for 150% pot), the opponent's required defense (MDF) drops to \(\tfrac{1}{1+s}\), and your river bluff fraction should be about \(\tfrac{s}{1+2s}\). Overbets thrive on boards where the bettor's range is uncapped and the caller's is capped — turn and river bricks after the caller has shown weakness. They also enable geometric sizing when deep: sometimes only an overbet line gets stacks in by the river. Use them to charge the nuts and to leverage blockers, not as a reflexive bluff size.