Hero is a winning REC trying to transition to Pro, mostly wanting to improve game in large pot situations like this and identifying which hands are best as bluffs and which aren't, hero historically over bluffs these spots but villain does not know this
At the time I saw this as a great bluff for the reasons explained but having discussed with friends they've said it's okay / bad and theres numerous other hands that are better, which I am now starting to agree with

By posting this I am hoping to identify what the best hands are as bluffs on the river as played and why, but of course be welcome to rip all streets to pieces if you see fit

OTTH - £1/2 400 Max, effective stacks 400.

Hero raises QJ from UTG + 1 to £10, 3 callers. SB 3! to 60. Hero sees villain as a solid reg, capable of making moves but somewhat timid in larger pots. Villain sees hero as good reg. Hero flats (close but felt okay)

FLOP - 150

KQ6 - Villain leads for 80, hero flats
- This again feels close

TURN - 310
8 - Villain checks, Hero jams 260 effective.
- My logic at the time is that he is going to have a hard time calling here with hands like AAo, AKo, AQo, and obviously bluffs. The only hands he can be comfortable calling off with here are AQss (Of course), JTss if he 3! that Pre and doesn't jam turn with it, KK and perhaps some other hands like AsKo and AAs. In regard to our hand, we block QQ which at the time felt good, but we do not block any spade combos. We can feasibly jam KQ, some QQ and KK we don't 4! pre, and some/most AK combos, and our 3/4 combos of flushes such as AQss and JTss

What do we think about this? Should we just use a hand like AsQo instead as bluff ?

Thanks

You're trying to rep the fact that you raised light utg and called a 3bet even lighter. I dont like it. If he has As then he's going to call and if he doesnt he's gotta think you had something like AJss and would you really just call the flop with a hand like that?

Thanks for the comment

Raising QJhh UTG + 1 then calling a normal sized 3! in position against an okay reg doesn't feel bad? But it's close
He isn't getting the right odds to call with As, we jam turn with QQ KK combos we don't 4! pre, 2ps and a few bluffs like this AsQo and possible 9Tss if we have that

Fold to the 3b pre, fold flop, check turn
He is a timid guy 3betting from the blinds, this board smacks his range.

Don't think he's folding AAs or any King. It's a pretty common bluff spot every solid reg should know, very risky.

Think he mostly folds hands you're ahead of, that gives up anyway, like JJ, TT, AJs. You probably get him off AQ though.

Not fond of your call of the 3-bet.

It's really hard to rep a flush here as played.

If you wanted to rep a flush, you needed to raise the flop. AJ or AQ or AT of spades is raising that flop most of the time. Any other spade combo (say JT of spades or some middle suited connector) isn't getting the implied odds to call the 3-bet. Hero needs to call $50 where V has only $340 behind.

basically….what BenStiller69 says. Your bluff will work against some players, but a thinking player will see that your story doesn't make sense and call you.

You might not listen but you should not go pro.

Every street is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing. Calling pre is not close at all. You have Q high with 3 others behind you that have position on you, vs a reg who probably isnt squeezing super wide here



Opening QJss UTG + 1 is whatever but if you play post and pre like this vs a 3b then you should be insta mucking it.

I don’t know why you’re trying to “find” bluffs here. Your game is going to improve a lot more quickly by focusing on fundamentals than trying to “find” bluffs in spots you should never be in. We aren’t playing against a solver. And this is coming from someone who studies a lot of theory/gto.

It's bad. There's a lot to it you're missing.

1. You raised in EP, and have already got 3 callers. Your range to him looks a lot stronger than your hand. He's not likely 3-betting a lot of bluffs or middling hands like A3s or TT. His range is likely very strong here.

2. You don't know what the 3-callers behind you are going to do. You could easily end up OOP on the flop.

This isn't some CO open 2.5x and SB 3-bet 10x battle of LAGs, where ranges are going to be a lot wider, and SPR a lot bigger. This is a 5x EP open, several calls, and 30x 3-bet. Yeah, you're 200BB deep, but that's not enough to justify this call.

You should probably fold the flop. You were looking to hit 2p+ or a good draw, or get checked to. None of that really happened. But your logic for bluffing the turn isn't bad. Although at these stakes, I usually like to have some experience with guys to know they can lay down a hand. You'll still get called by AA no spade from time to time.

Fold pre if you're going to play post this way. I know in-game I wouldn't be able to fold, but I'd specifically be looking for a flop like QJx, 9hThx, etc. to continue putting money in. Definitely folding flop with 2nd pair, weak kicker.

Our bluff makes no sense. What are we repping? We can't credibly rep AA/KK/QQ since they would have 4-bet or raised flop, so we only have 66/KQ left and we're probably raising those OTF too.

So if sets are out, the only hand we're really repping is a flush and there just shouldn't be many combos left in our range. Plus we'd probably try to get most of those in OTF (combo draws). And we're taking the risk that V doesn't have As.

I full expect AA/AK to call this off almost every time. Yes, they will complain and tank, but in my experience they didn't wait for AA to fold to a <PSB.

Probably the only better hand which folds is AQ (no spade), which the average 1/2 player doesn't 3-bet anyways. If you got a fold, you probably were "bluffing" with the best hand.

Thank you for all the comments and contributions, they were all very useful

RESULTS - Villain tank sigh calls AA