You are risking 100 to win 120, so your bluff needs to work 100/220 = 45% of the time to be better than folding.

1/3 NL

New game. No reads other than I assume know everyone is terrible.

Villain (covers) raises to $10 from CO.
Hero ($100) calls with A6 in SB.
BB (covers) calls as well.

Flop AJ8
Checks around.

Turn K
Hero bets $20. BB folds. CO calls.

River T
Hero bets $60.

Had a great session last night, played about 10 hours of 2/2 finishing up $775 but I'm conflicted about this bluff. On one hand I never should have been in the pot to begin with, on the other hand I do love the spot and I think my bluff has a lot of merit.

History:
V is older black male with a "get off my lawn" kind of attitude sitting with $260. He is a standard 2/2 LP, playing about 80/10. H is late 30s white male sitting with ~$1000. H has been showing down nothing but the nuts in big pots.

Earlier in the session, H limped OTB with 63dd ($500 high hand bonus every 15 minutes), pot went 5-way, A72dd flop. V led out $10, two calls and H called. Turn brick. Checked to H who checks. River brick, V bets $22, H raises to $65. V tank folds and shows an ace, H shows the bluff.

OTTH, V raises from UTG to $12. 2 callers, H calls from the SB with QJo. In retrospect, even though I was looking to play any pot against this V, QJo OOP is a really bad holding and normally I fold, but I was feeling pretty invincible and reading situations really well.

4-way to the flop of 762ssx. Hero donks out $10. My thought process was two fold: On a very drawy board my bet could be conceived as a draw trying to name my price. I could also be donk betting top pair to "see if its good". In this spot I'm trying to convey a story based on what my opponents with similar holdings would do, since that's what they'll think I am doing.

V raises to $35 and its folded to me. At this point I put V squarely on AA/KK, he's never raising with anything else. QQ/JJ are of course possible but I block both combos of that. He probably doesn't raise preflop with TT although I suppose its possible. So at this point I decided to float and use any scary turn cards to put V to the test.

Turn is a 7. I fire $50, expecting to get a sigh fold some of the time but mostly I think V will call once, in which case I'm shipping most rivers. V does call $50 relatively quickly.

River is a brick and I quickly announce all-in.

That may be the most poorly played hand yet in this thread.

We're sitting in a 1/3 NL game where we know everyone is horrible with just $100?

We called off 10% of our stack preflop without position or initiative and with a dominated Ax it a game where (I'm assuming) it's most likely most horrible players don't expand their preflop raising range when it is folded to them?

Everything gets there on the river plus we're up against a guy who can't read his own hand and could easily call with lol two pairz and we're betting this river?

GIlikedtheturnbetthough,nicestreet,imoG

I was waiting for a seat at 5/T/20.

Our bluff on the river has to work less than 50% of the time. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how bad the player was when I made the river bet.

At first I was going to say...no way this part is true. But then I remembered this is the 'write about your bluff thread,' so I guess instead I should say...

'Nice bluff buddy,'

$2/$5 NL

Hero opens to $20 in MP with Qd9d. Older tight somewhat regular player calls OTB.

Flop ($45) JsTd9s. Hero checks and he checks back.
Turn ($45) Tc. Hero checks. Villain bets $40 with confidence. Hero thinks and calls.
River ($125) Ah. Hero checks. Villain looks nervous, thinks, then sheepishly bets $50. Hero check raises to $200.

You rep absolutely nothing, but this bet is begging for a bluff, so I'd probably do it too. That said, I would have c-bet here, and as played to turn, I would either lead or c/f to the given bet size.

I had a pretty good spot the other day at 2/5. Effective stack sizes are $500.

UTG: MAWG looked very degen, but seemed to play mostly ABC TAG. Felt he had a decent understanding of poker for 2/5 but probably breakeven at best.

Button: Middle Aged Asian Guy. Experienced, but recreational. Have seen him steal in this session and a couple years ago when I played with him before.

UTG raises to $20, button calls, I call in big blind with XX (sorry, don't remember but probably like JTs).

Flop 773 rainbow.

I check. UTG bets $25, Button raises to $100, I re-raise to $225.

I agree that I rep very little to a good player, but like you said his bet is begging to be bluffed which is why I did it. I was playing his hand, not mine. River check raise bluffs are so rare that there's no way hes calling that with less than a T. The guy is probably a breakeven to slightly above break even player mainly because hes tight enough to not get himself in a lot of bad spots. I would never try that against a fish, a calling station or a really good player.

I actually could have AA here though, but that's about it.

Im OK with a Cbet on the flop but I think a check is OK as well. The last thing I want to do is bet and get raised. I would check this flop a lot of times with AA and QQ to see what he does.

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H MAWG $200 (shortly after rebuy)

V MAWG $300 seems like a regular, fairly TAG/ABC based on short history

Hero is unknown at this room and hasn't been at table long. Only significant history is second hand at table H raised QQ late position, BB called, flop rags, BB check/called flop and turn, then check raised all in on river. H folded overpair.

Hand:

Two limps to H in cutoff with ATss who makes it 10, four callers. (Should have raised more)

($50) Flop J94 two spades.

Checks to V in hijack bets $20, H calls, rest fold

($90) Turn K, V bets $30, H calls.

($150) River 9, V reaches for chips, hesitates, checks.

H eyes V's stack, cuts chips, then says all in ($140).

V hems, haws, checks cards 3x, and folds.

Bad part of bluff: Sure could look like a busted flush draw bluff, which it was

Good part of bluff: Despite V's bet H thought V didn't like turn K, H definitely sniffed weakness in V's river check

Best part of bluff: It worked

Heres one that shouldnt work but it did.

Limped pot. I have 77 in the BB.

Flop AK4...checked around
Turn K....I bet $15 into $20 pot and get 1 call.
River A...I bet $50 and he folds.

Maybe he had QJ/QT/JT and tried to river a gutshot? Called turn with some medium pair and then gave up when he got counterfeited? I have no idea.

2|5, $950 effective with villain 2.

V1: has a high limp/call frequency. Will raise reasonably often too, but seems to like to see flops with lots of hands. Passive post.
V2: Very loose and aggressive, but limps a lot, too. Saw him squeeze light in the past and another time call a 4! with T9s after cold-calling an open, getting squeezed by me and me getting cold-4! (I folded AKs that hand, hehe). Has a weak image post as he seems to be putting in big money as the aggressor and losing at showdown or folding to opponent's coming over the top. Pretty aggressive post-flop.

83 exposed, LJ limps, HJ limps, Hero raises to $25 from the CO with AT, both limpers call.

Flop ($75):
235
Checks to me, I bet $55, V1 folds, V2 makes it $125, I call.

I think overs, BDNFD and a gutshot are enough to float an overly agro villain, and I'm getting good odds. I think he raises pre with most pairs from late position due to his high raising frequency, although I saw him overlimp a small pair from EP once. His limp/call range is generally very weak so he can have lots of 4x type hands in his range.

Turn ($325):
J
Villain checks, I bet $250, Villain calls.

After villain checks I think he is capped. Villain really doesn't have a reason to expect me to bet this turn frequently when checked to so checking to induce with nutted hands is bad, IMO. Also I turned hearts and still have a gut-shot. When he calls I am wondering what kinds of hands he takes this line with. He also has some combos with turned heart draws with me, so he could have quite a few combo draws in his range if he also gets sticky with pair+OESD. He might also have some two pairs that decided to check the turn, although they probably shouldn't as my hand looks like an overpair. One of the dead cards blocks some of his stronger hands.

River ($825):
K
Villain checks, I shove for $550, villain takes a five seconds and folds.

I don't rep any value hands other than JJ/KK, but I don't really "rep" very many bluffs either, nor do I actually have very many in this spot.

This might just be spew, but it was fun and it worked and at the table I thought this was a good villain to try it on.

interested in povs on this river check shove bluff

weekday afternoon 2/3 game. I'm at casino because I'm playing a tourney in the series currently in town.

I'm MAWG and Villain is a decent pro - we probably have 100 hours history, mainly at 5/5 and 2/5/10. He knows I'm a keen rec player and he'll see me as relatively nitty, potentially weak/tight ish but an aware player - not a mark but not somebody he'd be scared of. He folds to my pre flop 3 bets and aggression almost always. He is pretty much a TAG but definitely capable of playing back/getting out of the box at times.

OTTH

Eff stacks are $380. Folds to Villain on button and he bets $15. I have A7cc in bb and raise to $50. He calls.

Flop (102) is Q 10 9 two hearts (q and 10).

I check and he checks. Nasty board and I'm checking the vast majority of my value range here other than sets (but this may be wrong?)

Turn is 8c. I lead $45 and he calls after about 15 seconds. My lead is a (probably bad) stab, to get him off under pairs and some K10, A9 type hands that he is probably calling my 3 bet with IP

River (190) is 3h. I check, he bets $100 and I shove for approx $290 total.

Reasoning - I think he has to fold everything but a straight, he'd raise a straight on the turn given board wetness and I thought he might bet a flush draw on flop and it's hard for him to have that many heart combos. River check raise is also very strong against a MAWG nit and I think he might sometimes fold a J too


thoughts?

I would just fold preflop. Yeah, our 3bet will take it down a decent amount of the time. But will those times make up for the times we are called OOP by a pro? No thanks.

Yeah, I think this is a damn ugly flop against someone who raised/called against a nitty image 3bet. I probably give up too.

Our turn play is basically repping JJ. Wouldn't we have bet the flop with JJ? Against morons who can't read, sure; against this guy, meh.

I think in a 3bet pot this guy could easily take his free card on the flop on a flush draw due to not wanting to walk into a tarp. His line pretty much looks like a flush draw, no? What is he calling the turn with that bets this river? Is he attempting to turn two pair / set into a bluff to get you off the straight? But wouldn't he just check those back and showdown? I'm trying to think of a hand that has whiffed here and is bluffing and I can't think of any. Also, your line looks FOS; you flopped a flush draw (with most likely a gutshot) and didn't cbet it, although I guess you could have been going for a check/shove on the flop?

Gmeh,imoG

I really don't understand the 3bet preflop. There is certainly merit to flatting his raise but against a decent pro it's probably best to just let him have your blind. Theoretically this is super exploitable but not so much really in live low stakes.

In general when you are 3bet bluffing pre you should probably follow it up with a flop bet. On this flop in particular it's pretty much impossible for villain to bluff raise over the top without good equity.

I would expect villain's value range to be pretty strong to bet this river. I'd expect your raise to fold out most of his bluffs but many of his made hands. If he's betting because he thinks he has the best hand he will be quite confused by your ship and will probably shrug call it off.

I don't think you have to bet so much on the turn, you can still get a shove in on the river if you bet a little less

I'm not a fan of a lot of it:

- I don't like the 3 bet out of position
- I think you can bet flop/shove turn when the SPR is down to like 3. You're just too short to play slow with AA/KK
- Holy balls is that turn card wild
- I really dislike river with the logic that we aren't deep enough to get very many folds. Would you ever not lead the river here with a jack or a flush? Would you really check flop with a flush draw? Think about what flushes you could even have - AK and AJ to him. Your line makes no sense and he really should call here with a decent amount of his value range. I could see him thinking you are clicking a button with AK or KK

Yup,I agree with all the criticism. I hate every street pretty much, when pieced together. Burned 130bb basically.

Villain had AJ with the Ah so while he probably thought about it for 20 seconds, he covered almost all of the flush combos I was representing
and he can't really fold a straight here ever for that price

At least you learned something about his 3 bet calling range.

And I might get a bit more value from him in future with big river bets?

So I thought I'd mix it up a bit, partly since Garick mentioned we needed balance. One of these is a bluff, and the other is not. And these may or may not be in chronological order.

Both at 1/3 NL

Hand #1
Effective stacks 400
Villain is a casual player who is playing poker for a bit while his friends are off doing something else. He knows how to play but my guess would be he mostly plays home games and not much in a poker room.

V raises to 10 from MP and I call out of the SB with XX along with ~3 others.
Flop is A3Q rainbow, I check, villain bets 20, it folds to me and I call (HU now).
Turn is a 2 full rainbow, I check, villain bets 30, I raise to 80, and he thinks for a bit and calls.
River is a 9 and I go all-in for about 290.

Hand #2
Effective stacks 600
Villain is wearing a suit and appears to be a businessman, he is on the list for 2/5. He sat down maybe 15-30 minutes ago and once went all-in on a pretty wet flop after a bet and call. Both folds so don't know what he had.

A couple of limps to me on the button and I raise with XX to 20, V calls from the SB and 1 other caller in MP.
Flop is 24Q rainbow, it checks to me, I bet 40, V calls, and MP folds (HU now).
Turn is a 7 also bringing a diamond draw, he checks, I bet 85, and he thinks for a bit and calls.
River is an offsuit 8, he checks, and I go all-in for about 455.

I have some thoughts on why in 1 case I thought I could get a fold and in the other case why I thought I could get a call, I'll post them in a bit.