3 Pro Tips for Playing Overpairs (via Lucid Poker)

Are you maximizing your winnings with overpairs?

Playing them correctly can mean the difference between extracting max expected value (EV) and leaving money on the table. In this article, I’ll share three key tips for playing overpairs in a theoretically sound way—helping you win as much as possible.

Let’s dive in!

Tip #1: Out of Position on Low Flops? Check More Often!

This tip applies to two situations with a low board:

• Raising from UTG through Cutoff and being called by a non-blind player
• Raising from the Small Blind and being called by the Big Blind

In both cases, a passive strategy is generally best. Why? Because your range contains many overcards that completely miss the flop, while your opponent has plenty of marginal one-pair hands and potential bluffs.

This is where a mixed strategy with overpairs comes in—you’ll want to sometimes bet and sometimes check (to trap).

Checking serves a key purpose: it discourages your opponent from bluffing too often or making light protection bets, as they always have to fear a check-raise.

Let’s break this down with a solver example from Lucid Poker:

Small Blind raises, Big Blind calls, and the flop comes 8c 4d 2c.

Here’s how the solver approaches c-betting with overpairs:

The solver mixes its strategy here, checking 49% of the time and betting 51%.

Now, let’s see how it plays the Small Blind’s next move after checking and facing a small bet from the Big Blind:

Here we can see that overpairs are mixing between calling (45%) and raising (55%). Having strong hands in your checking range boosts its overall equity, which in turn reduces the equity of the Big Blind’s made hands. As a result, the Big Blind can’t bet as thinly for value.

Another key pattern emerges: the stronger the overpair, the more often it check-calls rather than check-raises. This happens because hands that are less vulnerable to overcards need less protection, making check-calling the more effective option.

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Tip #2: In Position As the Preflop Raiser? Check Less on Low Boards

The situation shifts dramatically when you are in position.

Out of position, weak hands struggle with equity realization. But in position, this isn’t as much of a concern—you can simply check and see the turn for free, which wasn’t an option before.

Because of this, your incentives change. The goal is still maximizing equity realization, but the approach is different. Now, it’s about leveraging your range, nut, and positional advantage while ensuring you don’t over-bluff.

Since low flops don’t heavily favor you—given how many hands miss—you can value bet more aggressively. However, you still must check back some strong hands to protect bluffs that can’t bet.

Here’s how the solver plays overpairs after raising from the Button, getting called by the Big Blind, and getting the same, 8c 4d 2c flop:

On aggregate, the overpairs are c-betting 72% of the time, about 50% more frequently than in the Blind vs Blind scenario on the same flop.

The pattern remains consistent: the stronger the overpair, the more frequently it checks. This holds because higher overpairs require less protection, allowing them to check more often.

Tip #3: In Position As the Preflop Raiser on High-Card Flops? C-Bet Frequently!

When the flop contains at least one high card (e.g., Ax through Tx), you should almost always fire a c-bet—there’s just one exception.

Before we dive into that exception, let’s understand why c-betting frequently is best on these flops. 

Your open-raising range naturally contains a higher concentration of strong hands as you’re raising hands with higher equity.

As a result, high-card boards are much more favorable to your opening range than to your opponent’s range. You’ll have more strong hands on these boards, which means more value bets and, consequently, more bluffs. This drastically reduces the need to check back with strong hands.

Here’s how the solver approaches c-betting with overpairs on a Jd 7s 3c flop after raising from the Button and getting called by the Big Blind:

We can see that KxKx and QxQx are always c-betting, while AxAx mixes between checking back and betting.

Aces are special because there are no overcards on the board, so it can never be too bad to check back to strengthen that part of your range.

This makes it harder for your opponent to put you on a specific hand since you’re not always betting your strongest hands.

Final Thoughts

Overpairs require a nuanced approach to maximize your EV. By applying the strategies from this article, you’ll not only increase your EV with overpairs but also strengthen your entire range, making it much harder for your opponents to exploit you.

That wraps up this article! I hope you enjoyed reading it and that it gave you new insights. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.

Until next time, good luck, grinders!

Want more tips from Lucid Poker? Check out this article about donk betting.

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