A key to becoming a better poker player and understanding every aspect of the game is learning about the terminology that is used by various players and sites. If you are wanting to go to the next level, knowing the terminology used is key.
Two terms you need to understand are based on the type of player someone is, and these are overcallers and limpers. These are types of players that you may come across while you are playing online games, and if you know what they are, the traits they have as part of their play, and how to exploit them, you are going to have far more chance of winning the hand in question.
What is an Overcaller?
An overcaller is someone who calls or raises after other players on the table have done the same. For example, if a player raises, followed by another player calling, and then you call, you are overcalling here.
This has to be done by calling against at least two other players for it to be an overcall. Should other people do this after you, their moves are also known as being an overcall.
Overcall Poker Strategy
While there is a lot to think about if you are trying to use overcalling as a strategy, there is certainly one big positive and something you can use to your advantage. When you are overcalling, you are going after people who have put money into the pot, which means there is far more chance of the pot being bigger than normal.
If that is the case, your amount added to the pot will be less as a percentage than when you are betting big in a smaller pot. This means the pot odds for your win are larger than normal and could give you real value. When you are overcalling, you are giving yourself bigger pot odds, and if you win, you will certainly feel the benefit of that.
You may also want to take a bigger risk if you overcall, because of the bigger odds on offer. A hand that you may normally leave and not go forward with because you need big pot odds to make it worthwhile, may begin to appeal to you, due to the available pot odds.
What is a Limper?
The way in which you should look to take your poker gaming is to know what a limper is, and how to identify one, but not become one yourself. Generally, a limper is a weaker player and one you can exploit to gain an advantage.
A limper is a player who calls the amount that is the same as the big blind. This is known as a limp and means the player will face the flop playing against the big blind. This means the player cannot win the pot preflop. On top of this, a limper will be put in a bad situation when they see someone raise behind them, as this means they will have to fold, after putting money in the pot, or have to raise on a hand that is not particularly good, which leads them down a very bad path, and this is where you can take advantage.
If you are playing on a table that has limpers on it, you can take risks yourself to try and expose their bad play. If you have a hand that is slightly better than average, raising preflop is an option to try and force limpers to do the same, or alternatively, to win the pot from them because you force them into folding.
Get this strategy right, and you will be able to take on limpers with poor hands and win their money or force them to fold regularly after they have already put money into the pot.