Inducing a river bluff

[SpiderMnkE]

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (9 handed) converter

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

<font color="C00000">CO ($11.30)</font>
Button ($42.35)
<font color="C00000">Hero ($70.30)</font>
BB ($37.60)
UTG ($7.95)
UTG+1 ($37.15)
MP1 ($47.25)
MP2 ($19.75)
MP3 ($22.65)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.50, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls $0.50, Button folds, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($2) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, CO checks.

Turn: ($2) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, CO checks.

River: ($2) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets $0.5</font>, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, <font color="CC3333">CO raises to $2.5</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $9.5</font>, <font color="CC3333">CO raises to $11.5</font>, Hero calls $0.

Final Pot: $23
<font color="green">Main Pot: $23, between CO and Hero.</font>


The river is where my question lies... should I checkraise.. make a pokey bet.. or just bet some amount I want him to call?

[cornell2005]

just bet

theres not that many hands where he raises if you bet .5 but not if you bet 2. And in some of these hands, he will fold to your re-raise. When this happens, you get almost the same amount of money in the pot from your c/r than if you would have just bet out, and you discourage others from coming along.

In order to build this small pot into a big one, if you bet small then raise, you need the following to happen: you bet small, someone raises to 2 or so, you come back over the top, and he calls. that is alot of strength you have shown, and only the strongest hands will go along with you to the end and build that pot. however, to build a pot if you bet out, only this has to happen: you bet, he raises. It is already a biggish pot. He will raise you here with alot more hands than he will call your re-raise with if you bet small or check.

Last, generally a check is better than betting out small here, as someone is more likely to bet in late position than raise your small bet. See what im saying? The same money goes into the pot in these two situations:
1. you mini bet, he raises to 2 or so.
2. checked to him in last position, and he bets pot.

[JrJordan]

It honestly looks like no one has anything here going into the river. If you think there's a LAG in the group, check it and hope they find the guts to bet it. Then you can check raise em to your heart's content. Against anyone else, I'd probably bet out 2-2.5, maybe a slight overbet to make it look like you're stealing the pot. Perhaps someone will think their paired J is good and call. Any K might even raise you here as well. Save the rare post oak bluff for a LAGgy field on the flop or turn where you can hit hard if they don't fall for it. Anyone who raises a .50 bet here will also raise a $2 one.

[SpiderMnkE]

BK... you nailed this right on the head. Only the strongest hands are likely to build the pot the way I did... my opponent had AT.

Your reasoning is very sound and is exactly what my confused brain was looking to hear. I won't be making this mistake again... I will check or just bet out in the future.

[JrJordan]

If it makes you feel better, I think you'd lose your stack whether you check, minbet, or make a pot sized bet on the river. I'm pretty sure I would with the 2nd nuts [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]