So my game's pretty refined for a 1/2 NL player. I can make good laydowns and thin value calls, and I usually churn out a win or a small loss every session. So I can handle the rec players and can hang with smart regs at this level.

But a leak in my game is double barreling. Observe:

1/2 NL Full ring game.

I'm in Seat 7. I had played w/ Seat 2 for the better part of 3 hours. He knows I'm solid. Seat 6 is a nit. Seat 8 is drunk and talkative and has moved in several times throughout the session.

I have A6cc in the BB. Seat 8 UTG raises to 10. Seats 2, 3 and 6 call. I do too.

Flop is J74r

It's checked around.

Turn is a 9, two diamonds.

I check, S8 bets 10, S2 calls 10, S6 calls 10.

As I've grown with NL, I've tried more and more to listen to my intuition. It had worked earlier in the session when I called a $100 river bet with 44 on a 22866 board and won. Something is telling me to pop this pot and steal it.

I make it $60. For those who say "It's not enough in relation to the pot," just remember this is 1/2 NL live in Florida on a Saturday night. No one's counting the pot.

S8 slowly calls the bet, $10 at a time. S2, knowing that when I've check-raised pots in the past I've had it, folds. S6 folds.

River is an 8. Board is J3498. There's no flush. I have boo.

I can either give this pot up and check, or double barrel into this jackass to my left (who I have covered by a smidge).

What I did: Bet $60 again. He insta-shoved, I put my $60 directly in his stack and folded. He claimed "You were looking at me to see what I was doing so I knew you were bluffing." I wear sunglasses (because I'm paranoid), he has no idea where I am looking. He claimed to have a single J.

What I should have done: You tell me.

Why did you choose this guy to bluff, especially with hardly any equity?

Oh and stop relying on "intuition". If you can't rationalise a decision (as in this hand) then you're probably doing something wrong.

PokerRon moving onto live games? Welcome

Re: Hand

Not a standard double barrel spot. And what PokerRon said.

Quality bluffing requires many facets coming together to a reasonably perfect blend. Drunks dont fit into that recipe very often.

u tried to bluff the wrong person at the table, and you chose a ridiculous sizing to where if he had any piece of the board hes going to call you.

IME the ideal time to double/triple barrel is when:
- you have some equity in the hand
- a scare card shows up on the turn/river that could have improved your hand/made your opponents' hand appear weaker in relation to the board
- you're against an opponent who is capable of laying down a pair when faced with significant aggression.
- villains' range consist mostly of draws and weak made hands.

Now, you don't always need to meet all of these conditions every time, but I think that these will be the most profitable spots... In this case you had little equity, and a multiway pot where someone is likely to have a pretty good hand. Also, you were facing an opponent who (a) was the pre flop raiser (b) has shown a willingness to shove several times and (c) is drunk, so I don't think he's the type of player you want to rely on to make big laydowns.

btw, I would argue that there is 0% chance villain "had a single jack"

This COTW is the gold standard on double barreling. The author was at the time a feared medium to high stakes online NL cash player (probably still is, just lost track of him) who wanted to "give back" to the community.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...reling-651776/

As Limon is fond of saying, the problem starts pf. You should have folded. It has been many years now, but there was an online study of what hands won and lost the most money online. Not surprisingly, AA wins the most money. The hand that lost the most money is A6o. A6s was close behind. I know what you're thinking, "Hell A6 is way better than 72o, the study must have been flawed." The reason is that even the fish know that 72o should be folded pf. Nobody loses much with it because they fold it pf almost all of the time.

You chose a hand that can't make a straight and when it makes TP, it is frequently going to be out-kicked. In addition, completing the FD means that everyone stops betting. Adding to it by playing it oop just makes it worse. I would seriously go back and re-evaluate your self perception that you are a "refined" player.

Beyond that, I think you need to go back over the basics of bluffing. Bluffing works best when there is only 1 villain and he shows little interest in the pot. You have a situation where 3 players have shown interest in the pot. Not a good bluffing situation. Compounding it is that the PF raiser is drunk. Drunks don't like to fold. The pot is now up to $80. You move it to $140. The villain is getting nearly 3:1 on his money, but also the pot is getting to the point where it becomes enticing to win. Finally, bluffs are more effective when you are in position rather than oop. The villain can call your raise on the turn, knowing that you have to make a move on the river before they have to decide anything.

Now if the villains are thinking, they have to be wondering why you were checking the hand down to the river when you have a set. Have you shown you hate money? There's really not much that can "catch up" on the river without beating you. It looks bluffy.

Now I realize this thread started in the beginner's forum. For that forum, you may have been one of the more knowledgeable posters. I suggest you spend some time here, especially in the stickies to start bringing your game up to LLSNL standards.

Where in florida is this?

that was probably the drunk guy

is the board J34,9,8 or J74,9,8.... kind of useful info.

like i said before, i would offer the guy $100 if he could show me a bare Jack when he raises over your river lead.

Nothing wrong with double barreling.

But this is a bad spot and bad opponent for doing so.