Blocking Bets

I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but hopefully I can get the discussion going in the right direction.

Definition: A bet made OOP on the turn or river, attempting to “set the price” of the river or showdown. You bet because your hand has value vs some of your opponent’s range, but you don’t figure to have the best hand if you have to call large bets and get to showdown. The bet you make is typically smaller than what you would likely face if you checked.

In a sense, a blocking bet is kind of a bluff. You do have showdown value, but you do also fold out a few better hands, enough so that it makes betting slightly better than check/calling or getting to showdown.

Things to consider:

Your hand strength: I would not make a blocking bet with a nuts/air type hand. When making a blocking bet, you should feel fine about getting called. I don’t feel fine about getting called when I make a small bet with the nuts/air. I’m losing value when ahead and not effectively bluffing when behind. I am much happier making a blocking bet with second pair/underpairs or weak top pairs than I am with total nothing.

Your opponent: Make blocking bets vs villains who don’t see them for what they are (as in, basically most regs at 50NL and below). Don’t make blocking bets vs aggor-tards who will raise you anyways. Don’t make blocking bets vs passive players who would check behind anyways.

Board texture: My input here might be a little more vague. Basically, you want to make blocking bets on boards where your opponent should realistically only be raising with hands that beat you.

Why villains call: You may be sitting there reading that last statement, thinking to yourself, “Wait a sec, I vi, if they only raise with better hands, aren’t I bluffing?” Sort of, yes and no. Villains call (incorrectly) for two reasons when you make a blocking bet. One, “lolol pot odds, I have to call this.” And two, “Whut fux?? I has Ace King, I draw to tawp pair!!” Which brings me to my next point.

Bet sizing: A pot sized OOP turn bet is not a blocking bet. A 2/3 pot sized OOP turn bet is not a blocking bet. I will go so far to say that a ½ pot sized OOP turn (or river…) bet is pretty much the most I will blocking bet for. Remember what I said about why people call? Give them a reason to call unprofitably. Are you OOP on the turn, up against a TAG reg, with JJ on a 26TK board? Go ahead and bet ¼ or 1/5 pot and see what they do. They call? Bet 1/5 pot again on the river and laugh when they show you 77 or AT.

Each situation is different, but the main thing to remember is that you are keeping them from making big bets that you can’t profitably call, and you do rate to have the best hand a fair amount of the time if you can keep the pot size manageable. If you get raised with JJ after block betting a 26TK board, you can be like 90% certain you’re beat. But hell, with the games playing as nitty as they are these days, I could see even a hand as strong as KQ/AK just calling you down, for fear that you flopped huge. So keep in mind that when you get called, you sometimes won’t have the best hand, BUT you kept the better hands from maximizing against you. And what was that thing that Split taught us all a while ago? Say it with me: Minimizing loss is the same as maximizing gain.

And now the fun examples!

Hand 1
Villain is a reg running 14/9/5 over 2400 hands. His flop Cbet % is 68%. I figure he is opening with basically all pocket pairs, strong face cards, and medium suited face cards, sometimes medium suited connectors. His flop check doesn’t mean much, because this board is super dry. He checks his AK here sometimes. He’s betting the turn with his whole range, IMO, after I check both streets. I bet super small on the river both to get all of his weak crap to call “because lolol pot odds I have to call this,” and because I do get to fold out better hands sometimes. I'm basically gonna have to flip a coin and guess if I check the river and he decides to bet like $7 with his 22 - 88 UI.

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HAND #1
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Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

SB: $47.20 (94.4 bb)
Hero (BB): $52.25 (104.5 bb)
UTG: $49 (98 bb)
UTG+1: $51.90 (103.8 bb)
MP1: $53.40 (106.8 bb)
MP2: $59.05 (118.1 bb)
MP3: $55.90 (111.8 bb)
CO: $10 (20 bb)
BTN: $66.70 (133.4 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 9 9
3 folds, MP2 raises to $2, 4 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.25) T A 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

Turn: ($4.25) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $2, Hero calls $2

River: ($8.25) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $2, MP2 folds

Results:


Hand 2
No stats, no HUD. Villain seems interested in the pot, my hand has showdown value, but I can't call a big river bluff, should he decide to turn his unimproved pocket pair into a bluff. I set the price, hopefully getting a “lolol pot odds” call from those hands, and I’m folding if he raises (since it will mean Jx almost always and Ax sometimes). Villain claims he had TT, and I’m inclined to believe him.

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HAND #2
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Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

CO: $68.60 (137.2 bb)
BTN: $34 (68 bb)
SB: $43 (86 bb)
Hero (BB): $50 (100 bb)
UTG+1: $44.45 (88.9 bb)
MP1: $45.10 (90.2 bb)
MP2: $54.50 (109 bb)
MP3: $59.25 (118.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with K K
UTG+1 raises to $1.50, 6 folds, Hero raises to $6, UTG+1 calls $4.50

Flop: ($12.25) J J A (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Turn: ($12.25) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $5.50, Hero calls $5.50

River: ($23.25) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.50, UTG+1 folds

Results:



Hand 3
Villain was 80/13 over 3 orbits


I use blocking bets to keep the pot small and get to showdown, and because i think worse will call. I fold if he raises at some point...betting prevents me checking and being bluffed off the best hand. Note here that even though we didn’t win the hand, we got to showdown and lost the minimum because we set the price. I do think this is the type of player who will call down with much worse, sometimes even AK.


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HAND #3
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Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

MP3: $50.15 (100.3 bb)
CO: $69.55 (139.1 bb)
BTN: $70.05 (140.1 bb)
Hero (SB): $50.50 (101 bb)
BB: $63.35 (126.7 bb)
UTG+1: $60.40 (120.8 bb)
MP1: $11.30 (22.6 bb)
MP2: $67.15 (134.3 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with T T
UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, 3 folds, BTN raises to $2, Hero calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($5) 9 5 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($11) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.75, BTN calls $3.75

River: ($18.50) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.50, BTN calls $3.50

Results:


So anyways, I hope this week will provide some great discussion on blocking bets. I think people either don’t use it enough, use it incorrectly, or use it without knowing why. Again, I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, or even that my examples were good ones, I only hope I get the thread going in the right direction.

2nd stick it.

Very nice post, and I actually use blocker bets alot. Here's one example:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: $29.55
MP2: $24.00
CO: $4.65
BTN: $23.15
Hero (SB): $25.00
BB: $24.50
UTG: $15.30
UTG+1: $16.40

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with Q Q
UTG raises to $1, 5 folds, Hero calls $0.90, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.25) T 8 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $2, Hero calls $2

Turn: ($6.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG calls $2

River: ($10.25) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Final Pot: $10.25
Hero shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)
UTG shows K K (a pair of Kings)
UTG wins $9.80
(Rake: $0.45)

Sorry to say this, but I do not like any of the three hands...

Hand 1: Your blocking bet on the river is an option, but 2$ look soooo weak. I raise that sh... up as villain. Make it 4$ instead.

Hand 2: You 3 bet preflop with KK and a Axx flop comes. You check both flop and turn. So nobody believes you that you have an A. Also villains play does not look like he has an Ace. Therefore, I check that river to induce a bluff by villain. As played you fold out his hand.

Hand 3: Flop is debateable but your turn bet is simply bad. What do you want to accomplish by it? Else check again with the plan of check-raise or bet more.

Nice work at all but the hand examples I do not like. Sorry.

No problem! As I said, I'm definitely not an expert at it, and at least we get the discussion going.

As Digga said, blocking bets of less than 1/4 the size of the pot are counter-productive. You will find that you're being raised away from showdown by hands that you beat, and you will be missing value from weaker hands.

Good read ty.
Whats up with mixing it up ?
Shouldn't we make those 1/4-1/3 psb with very strong hands on the river against aggressive opponents to induce a raise ?
I mean if we make this blocking bets and get raised we cant allways fold right?

Ehee, this is my first post!
Nice post about Blocking Bets, I haven´t heard about them, allthough have used quite often. I find it is very important who is villain, 1/4 bet is nonsense against aggressive player.

Here is one similar hand, it is little different, because the turn is checked by both players. Is it also Blocking bet? Can somebody comment this play!

Villain only 21 hands, no aggr, 19/5

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG+1 ($50.00)
MP1 ($80.30)
Hero (MP2) ($66.44)
CO ($7.75)
BTN ($45.75)
SB ($11.14)
BB ($66.75)

Pre-flop: ($1.25, 8 players) Hero is MP2 T T
UTG+1 checks, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.25, 2 folds, BTN calls $2.25, 2 folds, UTG+1 folds

Flop: 9 2 Q ($5.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $4, BTN calls $4

Turn: 4 ($13.75, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: 4 ($13.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $5

I like it! Thin value ftw!

Another excellent thread, ty.

IMO, blocking bets are one of the tools in any players tool box, but is fairly rare one to use. The conditions need to be right for it to be effective.

Hand Strength: I certainly agree you don't want to make a blocking bet with the nuts, near nuts or air. In fact, it needs to be a hand that I expect that the majority of time I lose with if I check, but has some chances of being good as long as I can get to SD without getting bluffed off. The goal is give yourself the odds to make it +EV.

Board texture: It should be pretty dry. If the board can contain multiple monsters, you won't slow villains down with a small bet if they have a significant hand and weaker hands won't bet/call. Harrington gives some good examples of blocking bet situations. In my mind, having a TPTK hand on a fairly dry board where a back door FD made it would be a classic case. You're worried about a set and the villain has to worry that you hit the FD when he had a set, so he's more inclined to call it, but would also call TPGK, too.

Villains: You don't want to make this bet against a thinking villain in the micros. Blocking bets look like a weak hand worried about what is going to happen. How many times have people here posted hands where the villain makes a 1/5 PSB on the turn and the advice is, "RAISE." While I play on stars, other sites apparently have 1/2 pot, 2/3 pot and pot buttons. A tell would be if someone is always using these buttons, it suggests that they are lazy enough to follow someone else's lead. There's so little 3rd and 4th level thinking going on that I doubt you'll run into a villain going, "Well, he knows I think bet looks weak, so he'll make it with a monster thinking I'll raise over it and he can then shove, so I'll call."

Finally, I see these as only a tool on the river unless the villain is so exceptionally weak that he'll let you set the odds for a draw.

I think the key point here is that using blocking bets is an effective weapon in manipulating the size of the pot. If you have an idea of how big a pot you'd be willing to play for, given your hand strength and villain, then these kinds of bets can help you get as close to the desired pot size as possible (which is normally very tough to do given that we're usually OOP when we're thinking about this).

Note that we can also use a similar strategy IN position against certain villains. The basic idea is to make a small turn raise that will get called by worse and raised by better. This accomplishes quite a few things, imo.

a) If villain calls, he will check to us a HUGE % of the time on the river, in which case we can check back. In effect, we have set the river price before the river even came down.

b) If villain jams the turn, he has narrowed his range down to very strong hands (most of the time) and we can fold. Had we called, we may have faced a large river bet which would've been tough to deal with (after all, we've taken a weak line and villain may think he can bluff us off).

c) a corollary to b, if he calls turn and leads river, he probably has a very strong hand and we can let it go. (I think a river bet after our turn raise is going to be MUCH more pure than if we just call turn).

d) Villain may call turn with a hand he would've just check/folded on the river if we had only called the turn.

e) In effect you're merging your range for turn raises (which is usually pretty polarized)


Again the ranges for this are pretty villain dependent, but this can be a VERY useful tool in manipulating both the pot size and your opponents.

Can block bets not also be used in drawing situations. Such as you have the nut flush draw OOP and you are trying to get a good price to get to the SD with good odds. Would it not be good to use a Block Bet here to set the price and make sure you arent facing a pot bet that you have to fold to?

Actually i think we need to separate the discussion of blocking bets on the river from all other streets blocking bets cause they different in so many ways.

It depends entirely on the villain and I think this falls more into the category of donking as opposed to blocking, but that's just my opinion.

When I see what is described as a blocking bet, it makes me evaluate the hand more. I stop and wonder why the person (considering they have shown themselves to be a thinking player) changed gears, so to speak, why are they only raising 25% instead of the 75% ( Insert what ever numbers you are comfortable with) they normally raise. The two things that come to mind is trying to induce a bluff, or do not have much confidence in their hands.

Unless I am playing someone that has shown the ability to try to induce a bluff, I automatically assume that the person is showing a weakness. Sometimes I will raise with air and try to win a pot that I otherwise would have given up on. If I have a hand that is vulnerable, I will sometimes raise this to keep from giving a cheap card away. The only two times I will call is when I have a monster that I want you to continuer betting, or figure I am getting good enough odds to draw.


So I must be missing something when it comes to blocking bets. I have taken them out of my game because I felt others we exploiting this, and seeing it as a weakness.