Bluffing and Bluff-Catching With the Same Hand

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 ($126.70)
CO ($508.10)
Button ($470.80)
SB ($443.50)
Hero (BB) ($823)
UTG ($469.40)
UTG+1 ($793.10)
MP1 ($400)
MP2 ($376.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 10
1 fold, UTG+1 bets $12, 4 folds, Button calls $12, 1 fold, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($38) J, 5, 10 (3 players)
Hero bets $28, UTG+1 calls $28, Button calls $28

Turn: ($122) 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $99, 1 fold, Button calls $99

River: ($320) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $210, Hero calls $210

Total pot: $740 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had K, Q (one pair, fives).
Hero had 9, 10 (two pair, tens and fives).
Outcome: Hero won $737

UTG is a predictable TAG regular, and BTN is a loose-ish random. I donk the flop because my hand isn’t good enough to call a c-bet but also doesn’t generally want to see the flop check around. Also I am already thinking about possibly getting UTG off of an overpair by three-barreling.

After the flop action, I am confident that UTG has a better hand than mine and that BTN is on a draw. The turn bet puts a lot of pressure on UTG. Not just anyone will fold top pair/an overpair here, but I think he will, if not now then on the river. Of course having him fold and BTN call is the ideal outcome.

And then a brick on the river makes for an easy check-call. I probably lose to AJ or Kc Qc now and again, but that’s about it.

10 thoughts on “Bluffing and Bluff-Catching With the Same Hand”

  1. nh!

    but i don’t understand why the river is an “easy” check call…

    is it because to the river BTN’s hand is kind of polarized? had his hand has any showdown value he would be happy to check it down?

    • With two players showing interest on the flop and many draws possible, I don’t think expect him to be slowplaying anything. I also don’t think he can valuebet all that thinly on the river. Given that draws missed, he’s got a lot of hands that can’t win without bluffing, and a pretty thin value range of AJ and random backdoored flushes.

  2. would you call if he bet more of a value looking size, say $120? He can have aj,kj,qj here, although im assuming you think he won’t Vbet qj, and maybe even kj…maybe his vbetting range on the river really thin.

    • Ya I still call. The smaller bet increases the odds of him having KJ/QJ, but it also means I don’t have to win as often to show a profit.

  3. It seems like you think Villain has like a busted draw or a jack of some kind. Just curious why you don’t check-raise the river? How can he call? Do you not trust him to fold AJ/KJ?

    • Good question. Truthfully I think he almost always has a busted draw. I don’t know for sure that he can’t have a J, but I’m not that worried about it. So already, I think there isn’t a huge difference between c/r and c/c. Add in the possibility of a Kc Qc or the like, and I think it just isn’t worth the risk to get him off the odd Jack.

      • Good Answer but after looking the hand over I realized Button (Villain) would only have like 150$ left for you to check-raise him and I doubt he is ever folding aj/kj for 150$ more. I am sure you probably realized this at the time. Sorry my bad for not noticing before. It actually makes his raise size make more sense to (he is trying to pretend he has a good hand by appearing to pot committing himself, unless of course it is a total bluff). Poker is so dam complicated sometimes 🙂 Nice call!

          • A river check-raise would definitely not be for value. I actually think AJ might fold, even considering the odds he’s getting, but that’s not a guarantee, and it’s not that large a part of his range.

Comments are closed.