I'm a regular at a 1/2 game on Tuesdays. It's in rural NC with lots of hicks. Two other players are competent. Mostly there are degenerate gamblers/uneducated people looking to enjoy themselves (and if they make $, well it ain't so bad).

My image is that of a recent college grad/city slicker TAG. I sit with $200 and I don't limp much, but I PFR more often than anyone (except the two maniacs that sometimes grace us with their presence). I have shown some bluffs in decent pots, but I haven't done anything too crazy.

However, I'd like to gain some meta game image equity. I am looking for some ideas for a river bluff shove that's EV+. Only two opponents ever fold anything.

The opponent I have in mind is a retired 60s white guy. He's very solid at ABC (which is enough to beat the game in question consistently). He isn't tricky enough to PFR hands like mid suited connectors, but he always makes you pay pre flop with TT+, AQ+, when he has TPGK+ on a favorable board, and will always 3bet QQ+/AKs. But he also can make big lay downs. I've seen him show and fold AA/KK multiple times and is always right.

This isn't to be "sexy" or for my ego. It's for my win rate, which (although very solid) could use a boost.

What are some good spots to bluff shove where my cards are irrelevant? Assuming effective stacks are $200, include positions, setup play (and a hand range for V if you'd like). I have some in mind such as the "Killer Blow" from Treat Your Poker Like a Business, but I'd be grateful to hear any suggestions possible.

Bluff shoving the river is a great way to kill your win rate. These people will hem and haw, then call you any way. It will only work until someone calls and you muck your hand. Therefore, there are no good spots for you to bluff shove.

I'd worry much more about betting for fat value. That's how you're going to build your winrate.

If you insist on doing this (and I advise maybe 1 per year), then your opponent needs to be the right kind of player. You also need to have a consistent line throughout the hand. If you do something mid hand that doesn't make sense for the hand your repping, the game is over and as Venice stated, the gig is up. It can't be something you just decide to do on the river.

This isn't something you can just pre plan for and then execute it. It all depends on game flow and your opponent. If you are one of the better players in this game I don't think it is a good idea to take high variance spots that could kill your win rate.

You guys make good points. Most V's are most likely to make massive calling errors, so I usually charge them the max.

But I do have 2 V's against whom I do have some FE. I guess I just need to find a good spot with the right build up and run out. Not gonna force anything silly.

Very deep topic especially for your game. It can be done, however a ton of factors must be in your favor, as well as the hand plan well figured out beforehand.

Sorry to be sort of vague, however this is a very extreme topic and cannot be answered in general terms IMO.

I think you have the absolute wrong focus on the game. When we are new to poker we have this hollywoodized version of what poker is "supposed" to be in our minds. We believe that real poker involves sick reads and sick hero calls and even sicker bluffs and in reality, at the 1/2nl level, that will comprise less than 20% of your total winrate.

The vast majority of your winrate at 1/2nl will come from value-betting and extracting value from made hands and isolating/targetting the right villains to take to value town or prison rape.

Now, with all that being said, there are times when we can/should bluff.

When?

Well, if you are paying attention, the rec-fish will tell you exactly WHEN you can bluff them. For the most part, they wear their hearts on their sleeves and their reactions are honest. Here are the best situations and precursors to look for when bluffing:

#1) Villain Type: You can only bluff villains who are capable of folding when they 100% believe they are beat. These are scared money villains and basic ABC semi-competent semi-level 2 players. One variant of this branch is the "I put you on AK" variety of villains. Another variant are the ones who always think you are on a FD. Another variant are villains that say, "I know you have nothing, I know I have you beat, but I'm going to wait for a better spot". Basically, you have to pick the right villains, villains who have SHOWN the aptitude required for folding.

#2) Recognizing Bluff Situations: Going into a hand from the beginning with the mindset "I'm gonna outplay this rec-fish" is exactly how thinking players and 2+2ers go broke in LLSNL. The way to bluff at LLSNL is to recognize when a bluff situation occurs. WHen the board goes 4-to-a-straight or 4-to-a-flush then these are the perfect situations ripe for a bluff "against the right villains (see #1).

#3) Do Not Value-Bet Bluff!!!! . There is this GTO mindset that when bluffing we want to bluff the minimum to get our villains to fold. At LLSNL this is death because the value-bet-bluff just doesn't work at LLSNL anywhere. This is not to be confused with saying we need to bluff shove or to say that we can't bluff in a way that is 1/4th or 1/5th pot. What I mean to say is that if we bluff, the bluff bet has to be "strong". One thing that fish don't really pay attention to is bet to pot size ratio. Instead, they think in terms of how the bet relates to the previous bet. So, if your betting goes $10 preflop, $20 flop, $30 turn, $50 river , even if the flop and turn has 3 villains, come river, that $50 bet is seen as "strong" because it is more than the turn bet. However, if you were to try to value-bet-bluff and bet $30 on the river that $30 will often be seen as weak and they will call it out of pure reflex even on a 4-to-a-straight run out. So, if you are going to bluff make sure the bluff has some teeth on it and is a bet that will make villain think "he has it" and fold is weak-sauce value hands so that you avoid curiosity calls.

Anyways, that is my quick and dirty on bluffing. I never go into a hand thinking, "I'm gonna outplay and bluff these rec -fish.. Whenever I do, the result isn't all that good. A better approach is to just adjust to the various situations and then to pounce on the right opportunities when they come up against the right villains.

And like I said above, this should be a very small percentage of your focus. Too often, noobs focus on the bluffing aspect wayyyy too early in their development. My advice is to focus more on semi-bluffing and value towning and thin value bets prior to focusing on pure bluffs.

GL

Here is one of my few successful river bluff raise shoves in the past year. Villain is pretty tight preflop (aq,ak, maybe some more Broadway's, 99+) but aggressive post flop and can def double/triple barrel. He raises to $15 in ep. I call with TT. Flop 962. He bets $25 and I call (pretty standard since he can have overs. Turn 7. He bets $50 and I call. (Could be bad but I pick up a gutter and tt may be still good). He also thinks I am pretty loose (this is important so he thinks my range is wider). River 5. Now he bets $65. I have about $215 total.

His range is pretty capped at overpairs and def thinks I am lose enough to call twice with 68s 65s 98s etc plus slow play flopped and turned two pairs. He probably does not expect me to call pre with potentially dominated broadway 9s (j9+) let alone turn them into a bluff on the river. So I shove my tt and he mucks aa face up after some thinking. The important thing when bluff raising river is 1. The opponent having a face up range and 2. The opponent being able to vbet thinly and 3. The opponent thinking a bluff raise is very unlikely.

The easy answer is: 4 to a straight, 4 to a flush, and rivering 3 to a flush when you hold the naked A flush card (as long as your line is consistent with a flush draw).

The hard answer is: it depends.

99% of poker experts say no one EVER bluffs river.
So, most people are going to fold to your river shove bluff.
Try it yourself and see how it works out.