I’ve been wanting to improve my trickiness/creativity on the river, and in particular I think I need to add more checkraise bluffing into the mix. I like being able to check-raise the river for value, just because there are situations where that’s the best option. However, if my river check-raises are never bluffs, well that’s clearly a problem. At the stakes I play, most people are pretty straight-forward, and if you get checkraised on the river, you can count on getting shown a big hand. I don’t like the idea of being that predictable and easy to play against.
The complication is that the river check-raise bluff really works best to punish people who value bet thin on the river, but the average player at 2/4 or 3/6 NL is not very good at making thin river value bets. That means I don’t get a lot of practice with this play.
My River Check-Raise Bluff
I’m afraid I don’t remember a lot of details for this hand, but I called a raise out of the blind with a suited connector type hand and flopped a flush draw on an Ace-high flop. I checked and called a moderate bet.
A Q on the turn put a second flush draw and also a few straight draws on the board. I checked, and my opponent checked also. With so many draws on the board, it’s suicidal to check any kind of strong hand there, so I figured him to have either a draw of his own or a pretty marginal made hand that wanted a cheap showdown.
The river blanked, and I checked again. At this point, I wasn’t planning a check-raise bluff. But then my opponent bet $40 into an $80 pot, which looked like a value bet from a weak Ace or the like. Straightforward players value bet bigger with bigger hands, because the kinds of hands they expect to pay them off can call larger bets. At least that’s how it goes in second level thinking poker world.
So when he bet half pot, I figured him for a weak Ace at best. Thin value bet? I raise. I made it $140. After a few seconds, he called me with AQ for turned two pair. Pretty terrible turn check, but it worked to his advantage here by inducing my bluff. To the extent that I’m representing anything, it’s a random two pair, so I certainly would not expect him to fold top two. I just didn’t think he was that strong.
I Get Check-Raise Bluffed
With a wild image, I raise to $14 with Js9s on the CO. A loose and super-passive player calls from the SB. His post-flop aggression, according to Poker Tracker, is 0.55. The flop is a very nice 7h 8h Tc, giving me the nuts. Fishy checks and calls a healthy bet.
The turn, unfortunately, is the 6h. He checks, and this time I check also, though in retrospect betting here is probably better.
A river T pairs the board, giving Villain yet another way to beat me. He checks, though, so I value bet $60 my nut straight. If I’m lucky, he’ll have a 9 to pay me off. Unfortunately, he raises to $160. Double-checking the dude’s aggression stats, I insta-fold. He shows me KQo. I have no idea what possess him to do that, but I definitely got owned thoroughly. Good example of punishing a thin value bet I guess.