Why your bluff fails – 1

Many times, in the adrenaline rush thats the game, we all try weird bluffs, some are successful, many aren’t. I have been working on analyzing my own handhistories to find out why some of my bluffs failed, and have been trying to track down some of the bluffs that I was able to see thro’.
1. The Mini-bet bluff

Full Tilt Poker, $0.15/$0.30 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG: $25.50

CO: $72.30

Hero (BTN): $41.80

SB: $94.85

BB: $16.35

Pre-Flop: T 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)

UTG calls $0.30, CO folds, Hero raises to $1.05, SB calls $0.90, 2 folds

Raising with an offsuite 10,9 with a limper in is usually not a good idea, but this was because the table had been very weak-tight, most folding to a raise or to a c-bet. I had been a bit card-dead and felt I should be using my position to steal.

Flop: ($2.70) 2 3 4 (2 Players)

SB checks, Hero checks

Its going to be hard to represent much with an all-low flop, if villain had any ace, he was usually going to call any c-bet on the draw. I wanted to look at how villain reacted to the turn and play accordingly.

Turn: ($2.70) J (2 Players)
SB bets $0.30, Hero raises to $1.50, SB calls $1.20

The mini-bet was an absolutely horrible play by the villain. It was a weakish attempt at a probe bet to see if I had a Jack or to see if I could beat a good jack. I decided to raise and then try and take the pot away on the river.

River: ($5.70) A (2 Players)

SB checks, Hero bets $4.50, SB folds

The river seemed like a perfect card for me – and villain’s check seemed to signify that he was giving up. Seemed to me like he had a weak-ish hand like maybe a medium pair that he wanted to take to the river cheaply, and on seeing a couple of overcards and strong bets, decided it was not worth the price. The turn bet basically turned his hand into a bluff, and a bad one at that.

Results: $5.70 Pot ($0.25 Rake)
Hero mucked T 9 and WON $5.45 (+$2.90 NET)

Overall, my story of having a premium hand held up. Funnily enough, what was probably a weak made hand for him turned into a bluff, and my bluff stood up as a premium hand.

2. The desperation bluff – Representing your opponent’s hand!

Many of our bluffs fail because we try to play the board, and represent the nuts only to run into our opponent holding the stone-cold nuts and thanking us for overplaying air.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.15/$0.30 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

MP: $30

CO: $27.40

BTN: $27.15

Hero (SB): $148.80

BB: $45.20

UTG: $24.85

CO posts $0.30
Pre-Flop: T A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $1.20, MP calls $1.20, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.05, BB calls $0.90

Flop: ($5.10) 4 K 2 (4 Players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP checks

Turn: ($5.10) 8 (4 Players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets $4.50, MP folds, Hero raises to $9, BB folds, UTG calls $4.50

The turn gave me the nuts. I checked hoping that a second check would get the pre-flop raiser to bet at the pot. Sure enough, he puts in close to a pot-sized bet. I hate these mini-raises when others do it, but looking at his stack size, I wasn’t sure if he’d even consider calling anything more. Calling this made calling an all-in on any river card almost mandatory for him.

At this point, he should have tried to get to a cheap showdown and checked behind with the plan of calling a reasonable-sized river bet. Any King, and just about any higher diamond beats him, betting at the pot turned his hand into a bluff.

River: ($23.10) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $15, UTG calls $14.65 and is All-In

And there he goes..

Results: $52.40 Pot ($2.60 Rake)
Hero showed T A (a flush, Ace high) and WON $49.80 (+$24.95 NET)
UTG mucked 9 9 (a flush, Queen high) and LOST (-$24.85 NET)

Villain had a decent starting hand, and chickened out on c-betting the flop. A pot-sized continuation bet, or even an all-in bet on the flop might have helped him take the pot down. All his bets and calls after that are just from sheer desperation more than anything else. He could have gotten out after being re-raised on the turn. He called trying to represent the flush, but didn’t try to figure what I would be re-raising with.

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Full Tilt Poker, $0.15/$0.30 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $47.55

BB: $65.45

UTG: $32.90

CO: $98

BTN: $53.30

Pre-Flop: 7 8 dealt to Hero (SB)

UTG folds, CO raises to $1.05, BTN folds, Hero calls $0.90, BB folds

Flop: ($2.40) A 6 6 (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO bets $2.10, Hero calls $2.10

The reason for calling a Pre-flop raise with a suited connector is to win big and try to draw out. This flop seemed a reasonable flop for my 8,7 of spades. I called with the plan of raising and taking the pot away on the turn or river regardless of whether the flush came thro’ or not.

Turn: ($6.60) 8 (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO checks

This gave me a pair to go with my flush draw, not the top pair on the board, but some more outs for me. Was planning on a check-raise here. In hindsight, should have bet at this to represent a strong hand.

River: ($6.60) 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets $5, CO calls $5

The flush did come, and I bet hoping that a near-pot-sized bet from me would chase the villain away. Wasn’t too happy when I got called.

Results: $16.60 Pot ($0.80 Rake)
Hero showed 7 8 (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$8.15 NET)
CO showed Q J (a flush, Ace high) and WON $15.80 (+$7.65 NET)

Yep, I didnt have it. In hindsight, I might have tried to either re-raise the flop c-bet or put in a pot-sized bet on the turn.