A Reason to Bluff

Got a reason to bluff? You need one. A VALID one.

from:

http://www.stealtheblinds.net/page/3/

Longer version: In The Book of Bluffs, Matt Lessinger argues that you should always have a reason for bluffing. “I thought it might work,” or, “I was trying to pick up the pot,” do not constitute valid reasons. You need to have a reason why you think your bluff will actually succeed. This hand illustrates that point in my not particularly humble opinion.

In a 1/2 NLHE game at Foxwoods, a player in early position open raised to $7, and after two callers, I called from the button with 5h3h. The blinds folded, leaving $30 in the pot. The flop was A-9-8 with two hearts, giving me a flush draw. The preflop raiser checked, the next player to act bet $20, and the next player called. I called $20 with my flush draw, and the preflop raiser folded, bringing the pot up to $90. Everyone involved in the hand at this point had over $300 in front of them.

The turn was an offsuit 2, adding an inside straight draw to my flush draw. At this point the flop bettor bet $20 again, and the flop caller called. Action was on me. Time for some explication.

I had seen the bettor bet the same amount on the turn as the flop once before. The time before he had a weak made hand and was basically betting scared and trying to keep the pot to a manageable size. The caller was an agressive flop player, leaning heavily towards a raise-or-fold mentality. For him to be calling suggested a weak draw. He probably would have raised a weak made hand or a strong draw. The bettor was a pretty active player, and I think the caller was just calling because he didn’t really know where he was in the hand and hadn’t made up his mind to commit to the hand.

I raised to $100.

The first player folded, showing a pair of 8s. The second player laughed, said he shouldn’t have even been in the pot in the first place, and folded, showing a K-T (!). And I showed them my 5 high, declaring, “Well, it’s not quite the nut low, but it’s pretty close.” Ordinarily I would never show a bluff like that, but I was leaving in a half hour and had already decided to protect my win from that point by playing very tight. As such, it wouldn’t hurt to create a loose image, as any hand I was involved in from that point onwards I wasn’t going to be betting unless I had the goods.

Good times.

Posted by Beck as Poker, Poker Strategy at 12:55 PM PDT