I'm looking to add a few tools to my game. One spot I've noticed that I almost never bluff (despite population tendency to fold) is on the flop as a preflop caller.

In the games I play there are almost always 3 or more players postflop. I'm never going to be bluff raising when there are players left to act on the flop, but I have found a common spot where I think I should have a bluffing range.

1/3 $300 effective

V1 loose passive. never 3bets and rarely raises. Preflop raises 50% and limps 50%

V1 UTG+2 raises to $15
HJ calls
Hero calls.

My calling range here is something like TT and lower pairs, middle to small suited As, AJo-A8o, KQ, KJs, QJs, and a few other suited connectors.

Pot ($45)
Flop: T T 4
V1 bet $20
HJ fold
Hero ?

What should my bluffing range be in spots like these? My thought would be to bluff with my worse hands that have BD flush draw. So QJs or KJs.

Are there any board textures that I should be raising as a bluff with more often?

What position are you? Assuming btn

Ditch the off suit aces you listed entirely. You could 3bet AJo sometimes but calling with it (or even more so A8o) is just torching money. Mix in 56s+ and even some suited one gappers.

Bluffing paired boards doesn't need to be a common thing. Especially the higher paired boards like this one.

If I'm bluffing this board it's because I know someone is cbetting way too wide and I would use QJs 89s J9s QTs KTs ATs with bdfd. Look for hands that block trips and good over pairs.

To the question: very little. Since I doubt we’d be raising much value on this board, we don’t get to raise bluffs

Also never cold call a raise with an offsuit ace that can’t make Broadway with two cards. That’s bleeding cash


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm a little confused about your description of the opponent. Is he hardly ever raising at all or is that post flop?

If he's rarely raising preflop and then he raises, I'm only calling with hands that can crack a premium starting hand by the flop. So think PP and the best of broadway hands. It's a pretty big advantage to fold preflop with ATo vs. someone who only raises JJ+, AQ+ when everyone else in the player pool is calling with things like A8o and suited gappers.

My preference is to float with hands like three to a straight flush and pick spots to bluff the turn against players who give away their hand strength with their turn bet sizing.

Passive players, whether loose or tight, are usually not betting the flop here unless they beat ace-high. You have to feel good about your chances of them getting to lay down good two-pair hands. They expect you to slow-play trips, so they sometimes talk themselves into hero calls if you raise the flop. I've seen many players who fancy themselves to be smart LAGs end up owning themselves by trying to bluff a calling station on a paired board.

when bluffing your goal isnt to just rep hands because the board looks scary. Thats what fish do. I've been chastised before for calling down "light" because my opponent said "werent you scared of the 7?" in a 4bet pot BB vs BTN where the board was like 689T2r and I had JJ. He just figured if he shipped it on the turn I'd have to fold because duh, there's a straight out there!

Your goal when bluffing is to tell a story that makes sense with the board. If you flopped trips or a fullhouse are you honestly ever raising this flop? Probably not, so right now your story doesnt make sense. If you really wanted to bluff a board texture like this you'd wait until the river and then jam. Of course at that point you have to ensure V isnt pot committed, on tilt calling just to prove how bad he runs, have a terrible image and get looked up light, etc. Basically it's too risky under most any circumstance unless you have deep history and deep stacks.

A more logical bluff candidate would be if the flop is 9T4r. Now you can bluff raise the flop because you're saying you have 2 pair, or a vulnerable top pair denying equity to overcards, or such a good draw that you're ahead anyway. Of course the downside here is that if V cbets a flop like this that means he probably has enough piece to continue vs your bluff.

Basically bluffing flops is hard because you lack the information and there's too much action left in play to entice opponents to continue. It's also stereotypically unnecessary because unless the board was precisely 456hhh and you had AA you'd almost never try to make someone fold their hand.

And lets not forget that in LLSNL the vast majority of our bottom line is coming from just value betting better hands. Dont go looking to "add tools" to your kit just for sake of doing so. You know everyone is a station so thats why you value bet and almost never bluff beyond strong semi-bluffs which are really just implied odds pot builders since your stack is almost always in play because, once again, V's never fold.

I reserve bluff-raising the flop to very narrow circumstances.

1) I was the PFR.
2) He donk bet into me.
3) Pot is 10-15'ish BB's
4) He makes about a PSB.
5) I think he is testing if I just have AK, or similar.
6) I have him covered, or it's close.
7) Stacks are between 60 & 120'ish BB's.

Oh yea and were HU

I then raise enough to commit him to the pot, say 75-100% of his, or my stack.

Mind you, I just listed these rules thinking back on when I have made the flop bluff/raise, which isn't often. Over the last 3 months, I've done it exactly twice in live cash games.