IME I've seen many LLNL players show medium to large bluffs after dragging the pot but rarely do I feel like this flaunting has much value. Yesterday was the first time I can remember that I actually considered showing a bluff. I'll lay out the hand and then my considerations on the topic and would love to hear more opinions.

Moderately loose and weak/passive 3/5 game.

Hero has been playing somewhere between TAG/LAG and has built an aggressive, yet respected image. Most of my money had been won by stealing pots and punishing limpers. The few showdowns that have been reached have seen hero with the goods.

Villain has been the most willing to play pots at the table. Rather loose/passive hoping to gamble and hit at big flop. He moved to the table two and half hours ago and said he was stuck $400. He's still got $300 before he's even. Hero and villain have some moderate history but nothing major. Hero has a winning record vs villain but again, most pots have simply been Cbet takedowns.

The Hand

Effective Stacks ~$800, Hero covers.

Hero (Button) open raises to $20 with QT

Villain (BB) Calls.

Flop ~$35 AK5

Villain checks, Hero bets $35, villain calls.

Turn ~$105 6

Villain checks, Hero bets $100, villain calls.

River ~$305 3

Villain bets $100, Hero goes AI, Villain tanks, shows an ace for supposed 2 pair and folds.

Given that villain was getting to antsy prior to this hand (I think he needed to be home soon and wanted to get even before leaving), I feel that if I had shown the bluff, there's a very good chance he's tilted for the rest of the night and I have a good shot at his remaining stack.

However, as I said earlier, most of the money that I had won in this game so far had come from stealing pots. Would it have been worth it to blow my existing image for a chance at villains stack?

On a more general level, I would say most of the money in LLNL games is won through fat value and the times when you're able to isolate and steal pots from weaker players. Is there any merit to creating a bluffy image to get paid more on your big hands or should we prefer to not show anything?

I've got my thoughts but curious to see those of others.

Realistically the chances that you're going to get into another situation where showing your bluff will dramatically change the hand is pretty rare.

Most people show their bluffs just so that they can gloat, not because they have any metagame thoughts going through their heads.

If you don't know how the villain will react then you definitely shouldn't be doing this, but in the long run I doubt it matters anyways.

any metagame influences? like are you guys all regulars and you havent shown a bluff before ever? or is this a place on vacation ur leaving tomorrow never coming back?

If you are stealing a ton of pots and want to continue to do so I don't think I would show. What could happen though is that you get more calls even from bigger bet sizes pre, and about the same folding frequency because more people want to try to catch you so just loosen up preflop but are lost post.

Poker is an information game - I choose to give my opponents as little info about how I play my hands as possible. Its tough to be able to build off showing a bluff, unless you are actually playing pretty tight and will only be going for value from then forward - and plan on going on a heater hehe.

Id just rather them keep guessing or being "sure" I had AK there.

You said that you've been winning most of your money by, 'stealing pots and punishing limpers'. Its generally easy to win money by stealing at soft tables and harder to make big hands. Why encourage them to play back at you? In this instance I don't think showing a bluff has much value.

br3nt00 - This was my first time at the place. I'm on vacation in the area for a few weeks and will likely return, however, I doubt I will play against the same people. Even if I due, I think it unlikely they will remember my play.

I would tend to agree that certainly in this instance, I would prefer to continue stealing pots and not having to go to showdown. PeteGI makes an interesting point which I think may be right part of the time. Most villains at these stakes don't play back but instead play sheriff more often. If indeed they were still as passive/weak as before postflop, it would be nice to steal those larger pots. However, I don't feel confident that this will be the situation. Instead I think the table will begin to play against you collectively with a greater number of players calling your PF raises and making it more difficult to steal.

I think that generally it's difficult to isolate and steal a large percentage of the time and LLNL and personally I would prefer to not encourage my opponents to look me up any more than they already do.

When I haven't played a hand in what seems like hours I will expand my raising range and if its folded around, I will show the weak raise hand.

Did this one night with 2h 3h, another night with Kd 8d, both from UTG. The female dealer looked at the 23 and burst into laughter. I actually guess I didn't show the 23 but about 5 minutes later, I did say that's what I had and the dealer laughed again.

Anyway, the hand after the K8, I got QQ and doubled up against 99 because of the looser image - at least, that's how I perceived his read ... I could have ATC and he couldn't fold on a 552 flop.

Against bad players, it's probably worth showing the bluff sometimes because they will call you down light after that.

What happens when you stay card dead after showing the bluff and can't even steal in position when flop comes 552? Seems more likely that I won't get cards most of the time. Maybe it's jut me but I'd rather steal.

i once showed a bluff and immediately after, that player i bluffed got stacked within a couple hands

I think this is pure coincidence... I folded for an hour and raised AA from UTG and got 4 callers, one had KQ and paid me off on an AKQ44 board. Then 2 min later I got KK on the button and got 4 callers (2 limp calls), 2 rounds later I have AQs raise from CO and everyone folds.

I think giving the average player credit for looking beyond his own 2 cards is generous. Trying to play off the "image" you think you created its usually a mistake from what I have seen. There are few exceptions obviously, but I think anyone smart enough to pick up on metagame is smart enough to realize what you showing a bluff is trying to do.

Just dont give them that info. And Im sure 99 calls down on that board live anyway.

I only show a bluff if it'll make a player actually become more aggressive/spewy out of tilt. Otherwise it'll just make them keep playing their normal game yet being a bit more willing to snap you off and force you to play a little more straightforward against them, since even valuebetting them light requires you to hit some semblance of a hand rather than make something out of nothing.