merits and faults of the blocking bet

[xorbie]

Personally, I think a lot of people misuse the term blocking bet. The blocking bet should be a value bet, just a value bet when you're facing a wide range of hands, some of which have you beat but many of which don't. It's not a bet you put out there just because you don't want to call. There are obviously a ton of circumstances in which check/calling against an agressive player is by far the best line. In these situations.

Against a very LAG player, I don't see the problem with 2/3 or 1/2 potting a river on a very scary board with the nuts. If they have a very strong hand, they will raise anyway, if they don't then oh well, you lose out on like 1/3 of the pot maybe (but you do gain those few times he's willing to call less). If they have nothing, they might be tempted to raise.

Against a looser, more passive player, the blocking bet is an excellent tool. Think about it this way. You have top two on a flush board. You beat a good amount of his holdings (TP, lesser two pairs), but lose to a flush/set. However, he's too passive to raise you with a worse hand, too passive to bluff a lesser hand but will definitely call you down with a ton of hands you beat. If you check/call this type of player, you end up putting money in only when you're losing. Sure you end up not seeing a showdown if he does raise you, but he may as well turn over his cards, cuz he's got you beat. Bet 2/3 pot, and you'll end up winning this when ahead and losing it when behind, so all that really matters is that you're ahead of his range.

It's really all about judging what hands a villain is going to check behind with (that you beat, maybe some that beat you as well), and what hands villain will bet (only the ones that beat you? maybe bluff? value bet some lesser hands?). If you're ahead of betting range but not his calling range, check. If you're ahead of his calling range but not his betting range, bet.

Obviously that's absurdly simplistic, and the tough part is using your image, your read, board texture and so forth to actually figure out these ranges. And that's what I suck at [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]