Showing my bluff for Shania - a 3 hand saga

[James282]

So I've been thinking about Shania. I want Shania, I need more Shania - Shania doesnt love me as much as she should. So then I was playing in a 10/20 game...and the game is very tight except for 2 very bad players. The button here is a calling station and I have a LAG to my immediate right. It's folded to the button who calls, SB raises, I call with Th8h, button calls of course.

Flop is T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] LAG bets, I raise, calling station calls, lag 3 bets, I get nervous, Button calls.

Turn is an average 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] LAG bets, now I raise and calling station goes away, perfect. Now Lag three bets me and I know that this could mean as much as the nuts or as little as a pair with the A of spades. I wuss out and wait for the river...which bircks a rag non-spade. He bets, I raise, and he folds. Now THIS is an interesting lag - one with hand reading abilities(or who doesn't like a simple ace high if he was just semibluffing the naked As).

About two orbits later, our lag open raises in MP, and I three-bet him with K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] - I know. But the rest of the table respects me and I haven't gotten out of line with any of them yet. So they fold it around to our lag who caps(he will cap with anything he will raise with). I am not scared, I am James.

Flop is Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I consider it to be a great flop. He bets, I raise, he just calls - I smell victory.

Turn is an even more beautiful 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] He bets out and now I raise - he three bets me once again and now I just call. The river bricks a 5 of groceries and he now bets out again, I raise and he insta-mucks. I go to muck my cards, but instead turn them face up. He gets absolutely furious but says nothing - his furrowed brow behind his little glasses says it all. The rest of the tabe just shakes their heads like the typical new jersey rocks that they are - with only one local nodding in approval.
I almost never show bluffs, especially live, because I feel like it just pisses fish off and it hurts my nice-laughing-guy action. But I was tired of getting folds - I sought Shania.

Now to the exciting climax. I am in the BB with red cowboys. 2 rocks limp and the SB raises, I make it three bets, everyone rolls their eyes and calls and now the SB caps it, I look worried and call.

The flop is T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] - bingo. My pal bets it out and I raise, one rock looks grumpy and calls, maniac makes it three bets, I cap, and rock calls again now looking pretty annoyed.

Turn is a 6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] - no help for you suckers! Maniac bets out again and I throw in another raise. Rock calls 2 now looking visibly upset and maniac makes it three bets, I cap it off and rock thinks and thinks and thinks, shows his hand to another local and mucks. Maniac calls.

River is a Q - maniac throws in his last red chip and says "all-in". I call and he shows me beautfiul Shania(jj). Now the guy sitting next to Rock man starts cracking up because he had flashed him QT(sooted!). His friend says "That is why you don't play QT!" and rock man says "Shut the [f curse] up." We all laugh and the table loosens up considerably and maniac rebuys.

The big question - How frequently are we showing bluffs for Shania?
-James

[Franchise (TTT)]

I probably wouldn't have shown.

I think the value of being able to steal those large pots on the end with a raise was greater than the value of being paid off more when you have a good hand. Meanwhile, when you get this much action with one pair, it makes you wonder...

[SpaceAce]

I have never shown a bluff. If I get caught, fine, but I am not volunteering the information.

SpaceAce

[Garland]

I think showing a bluff is a good investment for the future. I have an image of a rock. If I bluff others out and succeed, I may show the bluff as a way of inducing weak calls for the future. True, you should be careful about who you show (you don't want to piss off the fish), but you should never eliminate it from your arsenal as well.

I had A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and open raise in MP and get cold-called in 3 spots. The flop comes rags, with a spade, I bet out with my semi-bluff, called by MP+1 and get raised by a LAG player in the CO. I call (I do not believe CO actually has a real hand).

The turn comes a blank [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Now I bet out, MP+1 folds, CO calls. River is a brick King, I bet, CO folds, and I showed it because I didn't want people to think I'm incapable of bluffing. It's wonderful for table image if people think you're too tight.

Garland

[shemp]

Maybe you were bluffing with the best hand, then what?

[Garland]

I thought about that. It may have been true. But I wanted people to know that I don't always have something to bet out, and I'm capable of pulling such a move. I actually think there's a better than 50% chance that I had the best hand when I bet out the river.

Garland

[James282]

The best part about bluffing with the best hand is that sometimes it turns into the rare value-bluff - which does wonders for table image. I agree with TTT that winning big pots in this way would have more value if I could expect to do it often. Since this hand took place with people that I play with relatively frequently - who think I'm a young kid who plays solid but not out of line, this play had a lot of value. One guy told me that he wishes he could still put me on QQ on that hand like he used to be able to, and in this game plays like this make people very uncomfortable. Now instead of their usual locals-play-tight-and-straightforward-and-take-fishes-money there is someone who is fully capable of playing back at them, something they have trouble adjusting to. If this was at the expense of one of the locals I would never have shown...can you see the difference?
-James

[shemp]

[ QUOTE ]
I wanted people to know that I don't always have something to bet out, and I'm capable of pulling such a move.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mistrust comes naturally to poker players.

If all your money came from worse hands calling, you'd not be bluffing enough. Learn how to bluff, and then re-adjust when they adjust. See. Now you're making money on the transactions, not giving information away for free. You are, as the kids these days might say, da pimp *and* da dope.

Also, And this is the Fundamental Theorem of Why You Shouldn't Give It Away: Lessons that are paid for leave a lasting impression. This is not always true for kids in college, but it is their parents that are paying, so I don't think it qualifies as an exception.

[ QUOTE ]
I actually think there's a better than 50% chance that I had the best hand when I bet out the river.


[/ QUOTE ]

Then the bet may have been unwise...

[shemp]

If they are snapping off your bluffs, but losing, you are not value betting enough, and you should be bluffing less.