Show me a good bluff....PLEASE!

HoldEmKillah · #1 06-25-2005, 02:34 PM

Bluffing is one, if not the biggest, leak in my game. I do it too often and usually at the wrong times. Frankly, I feel that I am more profitable when I remove bluffing completely from my game. Of course, this strategy isn't optimal therefore I need to learn how to bluff in a +EV way.

So please help me out by either posting HH's that display good bluffing techniques, provide words of wisdom, bluffing theory, whatever. Just please help me repair this horrible leak of mine. Thoughts?

Thanks,
HEK

kagame · #2 06-25-2005, 02:39 PM

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($594)
CO ($1078.27)
Button ($588)
SB ($914.8)
BB ($573.1)
UTG ($1158.21)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $3.
UTG calls $6, Hero calls $6, 2 folds, SB (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($24) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB bets $20, BB folds, UTG folds, Hero calls $20.

Turn: ($64) 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero raises to $95, SB calls $55.

River: ($254) 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $125, SB folds.

Final Pot: $379

Results in white below: 
Hero has 4h 8h (high card, king).
Outcome: Hero wins $379.

HoldEmKillah · #3 06-25-2005, 02:58 PM

Kagame,

Can you explain your thought process with this hand? For instance, was this opponent-dependent? Was the flop call a delay-bluff? Why fire again on the river if he has show so much strength? On the surface this play looks quite a bit ballsy so I'd like to know why you decided this hand and this opponent was the right spot.

Thx,
HEK

captZEEbo1 · #4 06-25-2005, 03:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($594)
CO ($1078.27)
Button ($588)
SB ($914.8)
BB ($573.1)
UTG ($1158.21)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $3.
UTG calls $6, Hero calls $6, 2 folds, SB (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($24) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB bets $20, BB folds, UTG folds, Hero calls $20.

Turn: ($64) 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero raises to $95, SB calls $55.

River: ($254) 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $125, SB folds.

Final Pot: $379

Results in white below: 
Hero has 4h 8h (high card, king).
Outcome: Hero wins $379. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that really a good bluff? What on earth are you representing? I have a feeling you had roughly the best hand (he definitely didn't have a pair of kings, he probably had a missed flush draw, so he might've had you slightly outkicked, or randomly hit a different pair on the way to his flush draw). This bluff is NOT good though, because pot is really small and you are representing nothing.

HoldEmKillah · #5 06-25-2005, 04:09 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have a feeling you had roughly the best hand ... so he might've had you slightly outkicked, or randomly hit a different pair on the way to his flush draw).

[/ QUOTE ]

He didn't hit a pair. Kagame has no pair/no draw which leads me to another question: why bother bluffing with nothing? Shouldn't a bluffer always leave himself outs?

AZK · #6 06-25-2005, 04:18 PM

Why bother bluffing a pot with no money in it? It's not like you are tied to this pot or anything, have a lot on the line...

AZK · #7 06-25-2005, 04:20 PM

It got mixed/controversial responses on the board, but look up Gift of Gabs Commerce 10/20 hand a while back...I think that is a good bluff.

soah · #8 06-25-2005, 04:52 PM

I limp with something, others limp behind, bb makes some raise that's much too small to chase me out, so I call, everyone else calls, five to the flop. Flop is ace high and I have some sort of a draw at something. BB bets some amount, I call, everyone else folds. Turn is a blank and BB checks, so I take the pot.

Sorry for the lack of detail... you can still follow the logic behind the hand without it though. I call on the flop because I have a strong draw, any my opponents absolutely hate folding, so there's no point in raising. I figure someone must have an ace. But everyone folds and the preflop raiser checks the turn, at which point I realize that he doesn't have (or can beat) an ace and assumes that I have it.

MoDOH · #9 06-25-2005, 05:10 PM

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter

SB in this hand is of average aggr. and skill. Once he checked the flop I put him on either AK or or a med. PP.

MP:s underbet is his way of trying to steal pots...

Hero ($574.34)
Button ($327.5)
SB ($202.45)
BB ($127.55)
UTG ($352)
MP ($588.55)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $1.
1 fold, MP calls $2, Hero calls $2, Button calls $2, SB (poster) raises to $9, 1 fold, MP calls $8, Hero calls $8, Button folds.

Flop: ($34) Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 players)
SB checks, MP bets $5, Hero raises to $30, SB calls $30, MP folds.

Turn: ($99) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $65, SB calls $65.

River: ($229) 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $125, SB folds.

Final Pot: $354

HoldEmKillah · #10 06-25-2005, 05:43 PM

But why would you fire again on the river here though? He raises the flop then calls your big reraise and your almost pot-sized turn bet. It don't look like a draw to me. To me it says "I have a Q and I'm not layin' it down." So why bet the river?

This is what I'm talking about when I say "show me a good bluff." In Kagame and MoDOH's hands, there were clearly succussful but I think, in both cases, they were lucky not to get called down on the end or c/r'd on a previous street.

So we have all heard that bluffing is about telling story about your hand that you want your opponent to believe. Does anyone have a hand like that where you can walk me through the entire thought process? It would help a great deal since, as I said, my bluff stories suck.

btw, AZK I'll look for that commerce thread. Thanks.