Overpair

An overpair is a pocket pair that is higher than every card on the board. For example, holding Q-Q on a J-7-2 flop gives you an overpair, because your pair of queens outranks the highest board card, the jack.

What is an overpair in poker?

To have an overpair you must hold a pocket pair, and both of your cards must be higher in rank than the highest community card. Pocket aces are an overpair on almost any flop, since nothing outranks aces. Pocket kings are an overpair on any board without an ace, and so on down the ranks.

• Q-Q on J-7-2: overpair, queens beat the jack.
• K-K on A-8-3: not an overpair, the ace on the board is higher.
• A-A on any flop: always an overpair.

How is an overpair different from top pair?

Top pair is made by pairing the highest card on the board with one of your hole cards. An overpair is a pair you already held in your hand that is bigger than the whole board. An overpair usually beats top pair, because top pair can only match the board's high card while your overpair sits above it.

Say the flop is J-7-2. A player with A-J has top pair (jacks with an ace kicker). A player with Q-Q has an overpair. The overpair is ahead, since queens outrank jacks.

How should you play an overpair?

Overpairs are strong value hands on most flops, so they are natural candidates to bet. If you raised before the flop, an overpair is an easy hand to keep betting with as a continuation bet. A preflop raiser often holds more big pairs and strong hands than the caller, which gives that player a range advantage on high card boards where overpairs live.

Stay aware of the board. An overpair is still just one pair, so wet boards with many straights and flushes reduce its value. To practice sizing bets with overpairs on different textures, the Postflop+ app runs you through realistic flop decisions.

FAQ

Is pocket aces always an overpair?

Yes, once the flop comes. No card outranks an ace, so a pair of aces is higher than any board and is always an overpair.

Does an overpair beat top pair?

Usually yes. An overpair sits above the highest board card, while top pair only matches it, so the overpair is ahead.

Is an overpair a strong hand?

It is strong but still just one pair. It plays very well on dry boards and loses value on boards with many straight and flush possibilities.