Hi all,

I have a question about a hand from yesterday that I think might have been a good potential bluff spot.

V1 was a young guy and had just sat down with a 100bb stack. V2 was a middle aged guy with a 75bb stack, decent player but typical 1/2 reg who limps in a lot.

Action: I raised 6bb with AsTs in MP and a 100bb stack and got 4 callers including the blinds. Flop comes 9sJx4x. Action checks to me, I check, and V1 bets 10bb or 1/3 the pot. V2 calls, blinds fold, and I call. Now we have a substantial pot of about 60bb and I am OOP against V1 and V2. Turn comes a 6s. Action checks around. River comes a Kx. I check, V1 checks, V2 goes all in. We fold and he shows 7s4s.

I contemplated a substantial bet when the K came, especially after the turn checked around. And the spade on the turn is why I called the flop bet in the first place. But because I was OOP in a 3-way pot, I decided not to.

Any tips for this situation? Thanks in advance.

Isn't the flop is a pretty clear check-fold? You're OOP 5-ways with ace-ten high on a rainbow J94. All you have is an overcard and backdoor draws. To win multiway pots you often need to make the (near) nuts. Without a nut draw or a strong made hand, I don't think you should be putting any money in the pot. Floating OOP with no real plan is suicidal.

When V1 bet such a small amount and V2 called, then 2 players got knocked out, my "plan" (to fold) changed. I was suddenly getting 5:1 pot odds and thought that there were enough cards that could come on the turn to either make it a made hand (A) or give me draws to bluff with. However, I did not follow my plan on the turn because of my position. That in itself is a mistake (to not follow through when nothing changed). The river card seemed like another opportunity to take down the pot, but I didn't take it because I was not sure what I could be credibly representing.

Did you have any reads on your opponents to suggest any of them were dumb enough to bluff into 4 players?

I did not. The bluffing I'd seen at the table (including my own) was HU as far as I remember and usually on the river. I'm not including cbetting on the flop, because there were at least a few bluff cbets on multiway pots (including some I made). I took the bet from V1 on the flop to mean he had a medium to low J or 9 or open/gutshot str8 draw.

Bluffing 3-way OOP on the turn is a definite no-no?

Then no you should never even dream about bluffing and you should have definitely folded the flop.

Bluffing the turn? What are you representing on the turn that explains your line of play? You bet pre, then checked the flop. IF you had a big pair (AA,KK,QQ) would you have checked the flop? what does the 6s do for the turn other than scream "FLUSH DRAW"? Possibly Straight draw? Are you known for betting straight draws then checking flop and calling for a gutshot and then betting when that card comes?

I guess somewhere inside I knew this and that's why I didn't follow through. Thanks for the confirmation.