1/3 live game,
hero is in BB, A5dd
Villain is tight somewhat passive player, she has me coverd
six way limp, Hero check A5 of diamond
Flop: AsQd2d (pot around $15)
Hero bet $10, only villain call (pot 35)
Hero bet dark on turn $25
turn is a offsuit 4
Villain tank call (pot 85)
River is a offsuit 3 which give hero a one card wheel
Hero move all in for 75
Villain snap call with QJ
Villain comment that she put me exactly on flush draw when I bet dark

Is this a reliable tell? she is correct on that flush draw, if any flush card come she will fold

no

No, she's just a station who's trying to justify her incredibly loose call.

okay that make sense as well

People who bet dark are saying one of a couple things: I like to gamble, or I have the nuts.

Use their betting patterns to decide which one they are.

thanks。

She thinks you're not worried about committing more chips to the pot if a diamond hits, so you must have a flush draw. Her logic is kinda cool, but she put you on a way too narrow range, especially since you could have the Ad.

I'm assuming she said this after she saw your cards. People like to imply they knew all sorts of outlandish things after they see the cards. Don't mind them. If someone is a good enough player to actually have a strong read on your play, they're usually not going to tell you that. And there are plenty of bad players who have the right reads but for the wrong reasons. So yeah, ignore it.

That being said, I do think most dark bets in such spots, fairly early on in the hand, indicate a lack of the strongest hands in the player's range.

Think about it this way: would you be likely to bet a set dark in this spot?

Based on my experience and observation, players with the strongest hands (sets in this case) don't like to do ostentatious things early in a hand, when the pot is small, whether betting or being the non-aggressor. There is a instinct with the strongest hands to be more cagey/thoughtful/sneaky, and this is why most unusual behaviors early in a hand are seen from players with weak or medium-strength hands.

This isn't terribly useful, as there are still plenty of decently strong hands you can have in this spot. And also it's pretty draw-heavy, which makes the read less meaningful than if it were a dry board with nothing to be afraid of. But my point is just that, if I thought the situation was right (opponent capable of folding hands, for one) this behavior would make me a bit more likely to bluff/bluff-raise later in the hand.

Could mean a couple of things, first being that he is trying to control the pot. We could also learn a lot about the hand by seeing amount bet. Could just be a blocker bet. A lot of variables at hand.

In my experience people at lower limits almost always bet dark because (1) they are afraid of being bluffed off their medium strength hand if a scare card comes or (2) they have a draw and want to set the price to see the river if they miss.

In a 20-40 limit game recently. I did it headsup at the river. We had gone multiple bets on every str8. I turned quads....


He read me as having turned quads. But of course called anyway with bottom boat...

I think betting in the dark is a sign that you will have good equity or a pretty good made hand on most turns and rivers. Your hand is a perfect example, so would A2/Q2, maybe some combo draws to wheel/broadway.

I usually like to bet in the dark (extremely small) to replace a check in the dark. Like a spot in PLO on Qs9s5d2d board where we cr turn with QQ and our hand is pretty face up and doesn't like any river that doesn't pair.

good post, i agree with this

Heck dark is the dumbest play in Poker. That's why Phil Helmuth has the play mastered.

EVERY TIME I have seen him do it he has been weak. Every time.

I don't think dark checks are dumb, but dark tiny bets (like 1-5% pot) are the nuts.

Agreed, dark bets are the nuts, dark checks are the attempt to hit the nuts and hide it. But make no mistake, by nuts I mean as little as something like AA. I've seen players dark shove AA on a 789J runout and act like they got unlucky when they get snapped off.

Last live tourney I played, I had about 25 BBs a few off the bubble, AK in MP, I raise, CO calls. Flop came K10x, I bet, he calls, I shove dark before the turn. My reasoning is that there are literally no cards that come that I'm probably not going to have to shove at this stage anyway, maybe I could nit it up if a 10 comes, but realistically I had a pot size bet left at this stage and I thought a blind shove looked weaker.

Thoughts on that? For those interested he called with QJ and binked the A on the river because poker.

If mentally you made that determination, shove on the flop instead of pricing draws in with a bet. Apply max pressure and gain fold equity.

I know some of the Regs at my room like to do this before the flop (ie SB calls the action then bets in the dark) because (so they say) they gain position and there opponents has no idea how they flopped. I also notice they have some ragged hand like KT or a drawing hand like 56s. All of this is flawed thinking IMHO.

The only times I see this and a big hand is flipped up at the end say KK is by the very Aggo guy which like to bet his weak and soso hands and play passive and trap with there big hands.

In the limit games I play, always a check-in-the-dark is a weak hand except PF. Then when it gets bet back around...and villain raises....almost* always an AA,KK type hand from a decent player that doesn't raise ANY hands from the blinds 'cause he doesn't like to play OOP.