This isn’t a move I make often, but here the stars were aligned correctly. My opponent was very aggressive at several tables and seemed to be targeting me specifically (not a bad approach, since I was playing more weak hands than anyone else). He was c-betting 100% of the time, so I call flop, and then the turn is such a good card for him to double barrel that I think his range is still very wide. In particular, I think he’s often checking his one pair hands here for pot control, which means he’s a lot more likely to be bluffing than to have a hand, especially one that can stand a check-raise. The raise, by the way, is to knock him off bluffs that still have me beat (66 probably thinks it needs to bluff at this point) and not give free cards since almost anything that I’m still beating has 12% or better odds to beat me on the river.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($1051.25)
UTG ($2632)
MP ($1784.75)
Button ($602.25)
Hero ($1782.75)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 3c, 4c.
1 fold, MP raises to $35, 1 fold, Hero calls $30, 1 fold.
Flop: ($80) 8d, Js, 4d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $55, Hero calls $55.
Turn: ($190) Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $135, Hero raises to $592, MP folds.
Final Pot: $917
Here’s a river check-raise bluff that didn’t work:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($701.65)
Hero ($1411.90)
BB ($600)
UTG ($237)
MP ($257.55)
CO ($1688.55)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 4c, 7c.
4 folds, Hero completes, BB checks.
Flop: ($12) 8d, 3d, 4h (2 players)
Hero bets $12, BB calls $12.
Turn: ($36) Ac (2 players)
Hero bets $36, BB calls $36.
River: ($108) Jc (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $55, Hero raises to $207, BB calls $152.
Final Pot: $522
He insta-called with A8 for two pair. Basically, I just didn’t think he was that strong after he failed to raise flop or turn and then made a pretty blatant weakish value bet on the river. I would have played any two pair or better the same way, and that’s what I was trying to represent: a strong hand that gave him a chance to bluff a missed draw or value bet a worse hand on the river and is now check-raising for value. It’s hard to say whether this would have worked against weaker holdings like A5 or something, since he ended up having a much stronger hand than I expected and thus a pretty easy call.