Good or Bad Bluff - 340 NEPC No Limit

[Goodie]

This hand happened in the early stages of the 340 NEPC on Friday. The blinds were still 25-25 and I was in the BB with about 1200. There was a limper and a raiser to 75. My hand was:

5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I called the extra fifty. The flop came:

A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 3 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 4 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

This gave me a double gutshot. I checked, limper checked, raiser bet 100, I called, limper called. Turn was:

A /images/graemlins/club.gif

I checked, Limper checked, Raiser bet another 100. I was fairly positive that he had a fairly high pair but no Ace. I think I should have moved here, but I decided to call and bluff the river if a spade came. The river was:

8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif

I bet three hundred, Limper folded, raiser went all in for four hundred. Obviously I folded. He showed two jacks. I had seen him already make a few semi-tough laydowns and thought he would lay this down as well. He said he was just fed up and was going with this hand no matter what. I guess I just read him for being more of a thinking player. I do know that if he had an Ace, I was fairly confident he would have bet more on the turn as this is what he had done in the past with his strong hands.

Is this is worthwhile bluff early in the tourney? And would it have been more effective for me to just raise the flop or turn given my read?

Thanks for any and all responses.

Peace

Goodie

[steeser]

First, I don't particularly like the pre-flop call, this hand sucks and is not worth playing for a raise. Then after the flop, you have 8 outs to a straight, with two of those outs also completing the flush, so those aren't necessarily good. Then of the 6 outs that do give you the straight and don't complete of the flush, 3 of those outs give you a non-nut straight. So basically you have 3 for sure clean outs, so I would fold it here as well. There is a lot of tourney left, find another hand to play.

[Jonathan]

I agree with everything steeser said. Excellent advice on all counts.

When I was reading the original post I thought " why is he so intent on finessing this hand? Why doesn't he just let it go and get on with the tournament?"

Regards,
Jonathan

[Vince Lepore]

The best place to bluff this pot was on the flop. I like your preflp call. I don't like your flop play. You made the correct read. He had a big pair. You made the wrong read. You bet that if a spade came he would lay down his hand to a bet. You must be pretty certain of how your opponent will react given the situation. Since it was early in the tournament and unless you know this player from before I don't believe you knew him well enough to know if he was strong enough to lay down his hand.

A bluff anytime in a tournament is correct given that all the elements that favor it are present. This was not the case here.

Vince /images/graemlins/cool.gif