My latest poker article, How to Bluff a Calling Station, has just been published in the October 2007 issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine.
Neither of these was against a calling station, but I wanted to post these two bluffs from Sunday tournaments, and this seems an appropriate place to do it. Here’s the first one, from the WCOOP Main Event:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (9 handed) Hand History converter, Courtesy of PokerZion.com
SB (t50870)
BB (t18475)
UTG (t17787)
UTG+1 (t28701)
MP1 (t16041)
MP2 (t22315)
MP3 (t40259)
Hero (t33800)
Button (t21492)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Qd, Kh.
3 folds, MP2 raises to t1775, 1 fold, Hero raises to t3800, 3 folds, MP2 calls t2025.
Flop: (t8500) As, Jd, 2d (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks.
Turn: (t8500) Ah (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks.
River: (t8500) 5c (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets t3500, MP2 folds.
Final Pot: t12000
This isn’t a reraise I make very often. Basically the opener was rather aggressive and raised quit often when the action folded to him in middle position or later. So I wanted to punish him for that and take the initiative in the hand. I also didn’t want to give him a free flop in the event that he had a worse hand than mine.
In a reraised pot, I often check Ace-high flops with or without the Ace. This is because the strength of your range when you’ve reraised is kind of polarized when the Ace hits: either you loved that card and made top pair with a good kicker or you hated it and are worried your QQ or KK is no longer good. I’ll often bet the turn if checked to, but when the A pairs, I don’t think many better hands are folding.
I could be good on the river, though I think hands without showdown value often take a shot on the turn. Regardless, against a smart player (and this guy seemed to fit that description reasonably well), this should fold out better hands about 50% of the time. A small bet like this on the river, after I passed up two opportunities to take a shot in spots where I’d probably have more fold equity, is almost always for value. And in fact my hand could easily be JJ, QQ, KK, or even AA. I would expect my opponent to fold anything worse than a pair of T’s to this bet. But maybe not and I was just good all along.
The point is that this works because my opponent is thinking on a certain level. He’s thinking about my hand range when I reraise, he’s realizing that I passed up a good bluff opportunity on the flop and somewhat on the turn as well, and then he’s seeing that I’m making a smallish bet on the river. If he can read hands, this will look quite a good deal like a hand I’m betting for value.
This works less well against opponents who are just playing their hands with regard to the size of the pot and the size of the bet and not really thinking about what you might have:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds, 50 Ante, 9 Players
http://www.legopoker.com/hh
MP1: 9,097
Hero (MP2): 11,040
CO: 20,426
BTN: 6,163
SB: 3,812
BB: 7,336
UTG: 34,790
UTG+1: 36,760
UTG+2: 10,477
Pre-Flop: (1,050) As Th dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 1,090, CO calls 1,090, 3 folds
Flop: (3,230) 2s 9s Qd (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,900, CO calls 1,900
Turn: (7,030) 5c (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks
River: (7,030) 9c (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,000, CO calls 3,000
Results: 13,030 Pot
Hero showed As Th (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-6,040 NET)
CO showed 4s 4d (two pair, Nines and Fours) and WON 13,030 (+6,990 NET)
I actually don’t mind my opponent’s river call, but pre-flop is pretty questionable given my stack size, and the flop is quite bad, especially if he’s going to check the turn. If I paired either the 9 or the Q, his equity is shot, and if I didn’t, I could easily have two overcards and a draw. Or maybe I’m just bitter.
And here’s a Fixed Limit Hold ‘Em hand from the Stars $200 HORSE:
PokerStars Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind t100 (7 handed) Hand History converter, Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero (t2029)
UTG (t2417)
MP1 (t5061)
MP2 (t2709)
CO (t4276)
Button (t1913)
SB (t5595)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 2h, Ad.
1 fold, MP1 raises, 3 folds, SB calls, Hero calls.
Flop: (6 SB, t600) 4c, 5c, 8d (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP1 raises, SB folds, Hero calls.
Turn: (5 BB, t1000) Td (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks.
River: (5 BB, t1000) 7s (2 players)
Hero bets, MP1 folds.
Final Pot: 6 BB (t1200)
I’m not sure what possessed me to lead here, I guess I felt like I could often fold out the pre-flop raiser and possibly set up a bluff on a later street to get the other guy. I’m also not sure it was correct to call the raise, though I was getting 9:1 with probably 7 outs. Anyway, when my opponent checks the turn, he can’t have a very strong hand. There are too many draws out there. So I figured he’d fold to a “value bet” on the river. Then again, it’s possible my A2 was good all along.