What is a blocking bet?

[Lady Dont Tekno]

I tried searching but frankly the 2+2 search feature is crap. I have an idea of what a blocking bet is, such as when you are OOP and bet in order to control the size of the pot (give you correct odds on a draw, etc.). Am I far off here?

Thanks!

I think the idea is you are OOP, and are unsure whether you have the best hand on the river. If you were going to check-call a 1/3 pot bet on the river, then make the bet instead. If you are raised, then fold.

An example would be if you had 2-pair with a flop of 2 clubs. You bet them on flop and turn and got called. On the river a club falls. Checking invites a bluff. A blocking bet should get called by top pair, but the nuts are going to raise back at you.

[Mercman572]

i wrote the definition yesterday:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post3987920

[Ghazban]

A blocking bet is made on the river where you have a showdownable hand out of position but are not sure if it is good. Ideally, the following conditions are true for a blocking bet:

1) It will not get raised by an inferior hand (so you can fold confidently if raised)
2) It will get called by worse hands.
3) If you just check, your opponent will likely bet an amount that will be difficult for you to call.

Generally, blocking bets are on the smallish side (mine are usually about 1/2 pot) but, if they are too small, the probability of an opponent bluffraising based on the weakness a small bet exhibits goes up (and thus you cannot be as confident that folding to a raise is correct). If they are too large, they become more of a bluff as there are fewer and fewer worse hands that are likely to call.

i find 1/2 pot bet works very well and only few players will raise this as a bluff. They have to be pretty confident this is a blocking bet and not a value bet, thus making the bet extremely useful.