I am considering moving up in stakes and am trying to get more familiar with GTO concepts. Where do people generally learn bluffing ranges? I understand some of the caveats like no showdown value, competent villain capable of folding, bottom of range, etc.

I haven’t in practice yet attempted to see the value of a 33%/67% bluff/value bet ratio but the importance makes sense to me at higher stakes after taking a shot this weekend. So I’m not looking for someone to tell me how to bluff. Just looking for suggestions on where a player can get info on strategy as far as applying a bluff range. Is everyone depending on PIO data or is there a specific place/group someone could recommend for me?

value to bluff ratio: flop 1:2, turn 1:1, river 2:1....bluff with high equity draws on the flop and turn. However, OTR it's better to have reverse blockers to bluff with. Don't bluff because that is the only way to win the pot, bluff with an idea of what hands you expect villain will fold.

ok so you want to have villain on non nut ranges and be blocking certain hands.

For instance there's a rfi preflop from early position and I am in the cutoff holding AKd. Board runs out 8s 3d 6d Qs Qh.

Betting indicated EP raiser was capped and I am blocking some combos AQ, KQ, this would be a good opportunity to bluff then?

Am I on the right track?

Actually bad example. That hand would have showdown value.

Depends on which streets were bet and if you 3 bet preflop(I think you should 100% until given indication that the opponent is overly tight and or offers many free showdowns).

vs check check check? locate the bottom of your range, bet it to the point of bluffing range saturation(dependent on how many value hands you have). The top of my bluffing range for 1/2 pot here is a far cry from AKo in any realistic situation except vs the tightest of utg preflop raisers. For 2/3 and 3/4 pot, I'll bet the hands that are just above the bottom of my range. For pot sized river bets and bigger, this is where I use the good blocker hands to bluff.

vs bet check check? the bottom of my preflop range is gone, so (where is the bottom of my flop draw range?) is the question, and then (how many strong hands do I have?). These values will determine your correct river bluffing range. again I use variable sizing on the river depending on my showdown value.

vs bet bet check? ranges are even tighter, so (where is the bottom of my turn call range?) is the question, and then (how many strong hands do I have)? Again I use variable sizing, but I notice that I have fewer hand combos in my range, thus limiting my ability to value bet thin at a cheap price(vs a wider range, my bet can be many different hands, but vs a tighter range my bet is more limited in hand combo number).

vs check bet check? is a curious situation as more bluffcatchers may call the turn, but fewer draws may call the turn, thus limiting the number of potential bluffs in my range. Perhaps this indicates a smaller average betsize should be used here. Either way, I still use 1/2 pot with the bottom of my range and work my way up in betsize as showdown value increases.

The solution to the toy game that many people reference involves betting in a ratio on the river such that you give your opponent pot odds to be indifferent between calling or folding. For example, for a PSB OTR, you give your opponent 2:1 odds and should therefore have 1 bluff for every 2 value combos.

Oddly enough, I don't think I've seen this calculated for other bet sizes. For example, for a HPB, we should be bluffing at a 1:3 ratio. The way you calculate the additional streets is by adding the bluffs in and multiplying. Notice that this becomes wonky if you use different bet sizes for each street (that's why authors have made the simplification 1:2, 1:1, 2:1).

For PSB, 1.5*1.5 = 2.25, 2.25*1.5 = 3.375
For HPB, 1.25*1.25 = 1.56, 1.56*1.25 = 1.95

However, Pio data and reality is much more complicated than bluff:value. In fact, these software programs don't even have the concept of "bluff." They simply choose the combos that are highest EV as bets. Additionally, this model only works well when you have a perfectly polarized range, which doesn't really exist. Think of an K22 flop--we're most likely going to bet small here with a lot of our range to deny our opponent equity (consider when we hold 88 or so).

Bob touched on a way to look for bluffs. Most players tend to bluff too much in certain lines and too little in other lines. Think about when a fish check/raises the turn.

Although different boards will affect flop and turn (strong hands:draws) betting ratios, there are likely more of these ratios than there are boards(because of the different ways the hand can play out depending on how different positions act).

Thus looking at the aggregate ratio will tell us nothing about proper ratios in this hand on this flop or turn.

However, the pattern will definitely be seen in a broad sense:

bigger bet + more money behind = the more draws may be bet on early streets.

For example, I bet more draws on more flops on average with 80bb behind than i do with 50bb behind.

It's also beneficial to check more draws when you're shorter because your opponent can feel more comfortable getting it in with only a pair--thus preventing you from realizing your equity. Solvers like to check some draws in general, which is confusing to the human understanding of the game (since they work so well as "bluffs").

from pio ...i dont understand how it is humanely possible to actually count the number of bluff/value you should have in range and then determine precisely which combos to bluff...

So holding Ts9s and 3bet from BU vs CO rfi
on check check check board of

2d 8d 8h 5h Js

T9ss is blocking the 98 combos, 98s blocked by our hand. Board blocks 98d and 98h so there is only one possible combo of 98c and our hand also has little showdown value. So potting on the river.

Is that the idea here?

yes.