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

VanVeen · #4 06-25-2005, 07:03 PM

Since he won't bother, I will - I do this sort of thing often.

If someone is raising preflop >10% of the time; if someone is auto-betting every flop, and; if someone is checking the turn if they've missed the flop, I will call preflop having made the decision in advance to bluff call the flop some % of the time (and i bluff raise some %, too) and bet the turn. If they fire twice a high enough % of the time that their hand range consists of relatively few hands that can call a raise I will start bluff raising the turn some % of the time, too (whether I follow through on the river depends largely on the hand range I assign them after they call my raise and the river card!). Things like this make a big difference when playing shorthanded. Preflop and on the flop you're jostling over small pots and setting up larger ones. Make sure you win enough of the small pots that you aren't automatically donating money to aggressive preflop/flop players by calling their raises and folding if you miss. It is also easier to setup larger pots where your hand range(s) has/have a significant edge over your opponent's when they are drawing erroneous conclusions about what you're likely to be holding based on limited information (and poor reasoning skills, of course), something almost every opponent is prone to doing. Manipulate your hand ranges. Make them interact with your opponent's so that you have an edge. That's the game.

This is all you're getting out of me. There's more to think about against sophisticated opponents and when it comes to turn/river bluffs. Maybe some other time.

kagame · #5 06-26-2005, 12:02 AM

please post more :-)

i was on the road all day, and im glad someone stepped in and explained shorthanded aggressiveness against players that bet light and will make laydowns.

since he did so well, ill just leave it at that and comment on others hands and maybe post something else controversial

captZEEbo1 · #6 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 · #7 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 · #8 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...

Shaun · #9 06-26-2005, 08:34 AM

[ QUOTE ]
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...

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what makes it a good bluff. The opponent will think the same thing, therefore he "can't" be bluffing.

AZK · #10 06-26-2005, 01:03 PM

I guess...just seems like a wasted bluff opportunity.