Big Heads Up Bluff, What Do You Guys Think?
04-06-2018
, 12:22 AM
Just a little background before I jump straight into the hand.
The tournament is a local home game with a $30 buyin. There are about 18 entrants, me and one other player at the table had about 80% of the chips in play when the final table rolled around. We both plowed through the remaining 7 players and each sat on 60-65K (he covered me a bit) when heads up play rolled around. This player is a recreational player, but is one of the better few players of the usual field of 20, so I'm pretty sure he is capable of bluffing. Anyways, lets get into the hand!
Blinds: 2K/4K
Hero: Big Blind (60K) J
6
Opponent: Button/Small Blind (65K)
We're about 5-6 hands into play, we both exchanged pots and we are roughly even.
Opponent: Raises To 10K
Hero: Calls
Flop: T95
Hero: Check
Opponent: Bet 10K
Hero: Call
Turn: 8
Hero: Check
Opponent: Check
River: A
Hero: All In 40K
Opponent: Snap Calls Shows Us 9 9
Now I want to talk about my thoughts on each street.
Preflop: He had raised me every time he was on the button up to that point, I had folded rags every time. I was getting good odds with J6 off suit, so I made the call. Pretty standard play there.
Flop: The flop gave me a backdoor straight flush draw, so my plan was to check call, as this opponent has a very high CBet percentage. If we were deeper stacks, I would definitely mix in a 3Bet bluff on this type of flop.
Turn: Now we have the straight flush draw and a ton of equity against most of his strongest possible holdings. After he bet the flop, I figured he would bet the turn more often than not. My plan here was to check raise him all in, mixing in some of my made straights/flushes to my 3Bet all in range. Sadly, he checks back and were headed to the river. When he checks back, I think he has anywhere from a 9, 5, or his bluffs with zero equity that bet on the flop and gave up on the turn.
River: Most draws had already gotten there on the turn, so this offsuit ace is not a very favorable card for my big blind range. I would 3Bet preflop most of my ace holdings that would stick around on the flop, and overall this card heavily favors his holdings. I put him on a hand such as a 9, 8, or a missed straight/flush draw when he checked the turn. I believe most of his check back range on the turn would surely check back on most rivers. So lets talk about my hand here. I think I'm holding the best possible bluff hand, with blockers to 67, J7, QJ, and the jack of clubs blocked KJ, AJ, or QJ, all of which he would raise me with preflop, and most likely check the turn with after they made the virtual nuts. Nevertheless, my final decision of bluff shoving here came down to his tight preflop raise range (he had been tight the entire night), his loose playstyle postflop, his check back on the turn indicating the action card didn't help him, and my perfect bluff hand blocking most of his straight/flush holdings.
Final Thoughts: I think this bet on the river would be a massively +EV move, considering all of my value hands would beat almost all of his check back range on the turn, I block his straights/flushes with my bluffs, and I think this player wouldn't call all in on this board with anything worse than a set. I think it's a pretty odd play for him to check back 9's on the turn, considering all of the potential draws he's giving the river for free. Overall, when it was all said and done and I took home 2nd place money, I felt like a winner. I felt so incredibly strong about my balanced game. Sometimes in poker, you're gonna get called with the nuts and stack your opponent. Other times, your bluff is going to get called and you get stacked by your opponent. I'd like to thank the Upswing Poker team for teaching me a balanced game I am very confident in. This was a pretty long first post, and thanks for reading all of it. Hope you guys keep crushing the felt!
The tournament is a local home game with a $30 buyin. There are about 18 entrants, me and one other player at the table had about 80% of the chips in play when the final table rolled around. We both plowed through the remaining 7 players and each sat on 60-65K (he covered me a bit) when heads up play rolled around. This player is a recreational player, but is one of the better few players of the usual field of 20, so I'm pretty sure he is capable of bluffing. Anyways, lets get into the hand!
Blinds: 2K/4K
Hero: Big Blind (60K) J
6Opponent: Button/Small Blind (65K)
We're about 5-6 hands into play, we both exchanged pots and we are roughly even.
Opponent: Raises To 10K
Hero: Calls
Flop: T
95Hero: Check
Opponent: Bet 10K
Hero: Call
Turn: 8
Hero: Check
Opponent: Check
River: A
Hero: All In 40K
Opponent: Snap Calls Shows Us 9
9Now I want to talk about my thoughts on each street.
Preflop: He had raised me every time he was on the button up to that point, I had folded rags every time. I was getting good odds with J6 off suit, so I made the call. Pretty standard play there.
Flop: The flop gave me a backdoor straight flush draw, so my plan was to check call, as this opponent has a very high CBet percentage. If we were deeper stacks, I would definitely mix in a 3Bet bluff on this type of flop.
Turn: Now we have the straight flush draw and a ton of equity against most of his strongest possible holdings. After he bet the flop, I figured he would bet the turn more often than not. My plan here was to check raise him all in, mixing in some of my made straights/flushes to my 3Bet all in range. Sadly, he checks back and were headed to the river. When he checks back, I think he has anywhere from a 9, 5, or his bluffs with zero equity that bet on the flop and gave up on the turn.
River: Most draws had already gotten there on the turn, so this offsuit ace is not a very favorable card for my big blind range. I would 3Bet preflop most of my ace holdings that would stick around on the flop, and overall this card heavily favors his holdings. I put him on a hand such as a 9, 8, or a missed straight/flush draw when he checked the turn. I believe most of his check back range on the turn would surely check back on most rivers. So lets talk about my hand here. I think I'm holding the best possible bluff hand, with blockers to 67, J7, QJ, and the jack of clubs blocked K
J, AJ, or QJ, all of which he would raise me with preflop, and most likely check the turn with after they made the virtual nuts. Nevertheless, my final decision of bluff shoving here came down to his tight preflop raise range (he had been tight the entire night), his loose playstyle postflop, his check back on the turn indicating the action card didn't help him, and my perfect bluff hand blocking most of his straight/flush holdings.Final Thoughts: I think this bet on the river would be a massively +EV move, considering all of my value hands would beat almost all of his check back range on the turn, I block his straights/flushes with my bluffs, and I think this player wouldn't call all in on this board with anything worse than a set. I think it's a pretty odd play for him to check back 9's on the turn, considering all of the potential draws he's giving the river for free. Overall, when it was all said and done and I took home 2nd place money, I felt like a winner. I felt so incredibly strong about my balanced game. Sometimes in poker, you're gonna get called with the nuts and stack your opponent. Other times, your bluff is going to get called and you get stacked by your opponent. I'd like to thank the Upswing Poker team for teaching me a balanced game I am very confident in. This was a pretty long first post, and thanks for reading all of it. Hope you guys keep crushing the felt!
04-06-2018
, 11:48 AM
