Turning a Pair Into a Bluff

I was hoping to post more hands during WCOOP, but detailed write-ups just aren’t what I’m in the mood for after a long day of playing. So, I’m going to start posting some hands without a lot of commentary.

I already posted one from the $200 Warm-Up, so here’s one from the second event that I played, the $1K Sunday Million. It’s an example of a concept that came up in the discussion of the previous hand, which is when to turn a hand that you originally called with for showdown value into a bluff. Here’s an example where, although I had a pair on the flop, the board ran out in a way that made it nearly impossible for me to win without bluffing, and also strengthened the rest of my range such that this is now close enough to the bottom to be a bluffing candidate on the river.

PokerStars – $1000+$50|500/1000 Ante 125 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 32.23 BB (VPIP: 26.26, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 9.52, Hands: 99)
SB: 41.23 BB (VPIP: 25.53, PFR: 21.74, 3Bet Preflop: 19.05, Hands: 48)
Hero (BB): 97.29 BB
UTG: 87.76 BB (VPIP: 13.76, PFR: 11.65, 3Bet Preflop: 4.44, Hands: 109)
UTG+1: 35.24 BB (VPIP: 16.84, PFR: 10.53, 3Bet Preflop: 2.44, Hands: 190)
MP: 122.99 BB (VPIP: 27.78, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 18)
MP+1: 53.42 BB (VPIP: 9.38, PFR: 6.25, 3Bet Preflop: 11.76, Hands: 32)
MP+2: 88.98 BB (VPIP: 15.91, PFR: 11.20, 3Bet Preflop: 3.51, Hands: 264)
CO: 161.21 BB (VPIP: 18.61, PFR: 14.67, 3Bet Preflop: 8.67, Hands: 468)

9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.63 BB) Hero has 7s 8d
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop : (5.63 BB, 2 players) 9c 8c Th
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn : (5.63 BB, 2 players) Qh
Hero checks, BTN checks

River : (5.63 BB, 2 players) Ad
Hero bets 3.38 BB, fold

Hero wins 5.63 BB

For more on playing a wide range out of the Big Blind, see my Big Blind Defense series on Tournament Poker Edge.

6 thoughts on “Turning a Pair Into a Bluff”

  1. So we think villain has a lot of 9 and T here we can get him off? We only beat maybe K-rag, 54s 86s and baby pairs but maybe we would have heard from some of those earlier in the hand. I think it’s a good example .

    No post about your 2p2 article this month? I found it anyway and I thought it was fantastic and also giving lots of hope for the future poker.

  2. Yeah I like Hero’s bluff on the river and I think I follow some of the logic? That’s not a great board for villain’s range and should be better for hero’s calling range. If villain has a decent amount of Ax in his range (certainly not exclusively) then are we in part getting him off top pair by repping 2p or Jx for a straight? Alternately, we also have Ax in our preflop flatting range so we can be repping Ax to get villain off 9x. Lastly, villain also has Kx and other air that we’re ahead although she’s never calling with those.

  3. Personally, I do not think you r getting him off anything after lack of 3 bet pre vs button raiser and ch ch, ch ch. So I have my doubts whether you bluffed this hand and in fact am not sure that was such a great bet at river. However, I am basically a stud player, but by my logic, you r playing vs obviously a wide ranging undefined raiser. I think you had the best hand on the flop turn and river as It has now become a limit poker hand after ch ch, ch ch, he is not folding a hand that can beat your pair, at least I would not.

    • Thanks for the comment, Alan. I don’t know about “undefined”. I think the fact that he checks the flop and turn gives us a fair bit of information. Specifically, I think he almost always has a better hand than mine once an Ace rivers, as with less he would probably bluff either the flop or the turn (or will bluff river when I check, which means I won’t win anyway). So on the flop and turn I can still beat Ace-high that he might be checking down, but now on the river I think I don’t have much showdown value at all.

      As for whether he ever folds better, he may not fold an Ace, but a 9? A T? What makes you so sure he wouldn’t fold those? I could have plenty of better hands, including straights and two-pair.

      If you think Villain is never folding the river, what’s the worst hand you would value bet?

    • When Alan says it’s become a limit poker hand is he referring to the common situation OOP in limit poker where we want to bet, even though we’re probably behind, because we lose one bet to the hands we’re behind either way and we think we beat more of his bluff catchers if we bet than he bluffs if we check?

  4. Do you think this river is a good one to make a bigger bet, perhaps 4.8BB, because it looks like you want a call from an Ace? For a mere 1.5 BB more, maybe even a player such as Boston would fold, fearing that no single pair can be good versus a 4/5th pot bet. Also, most people in Andrew’s situation, having not donk-bluffed on either the flop or turn, don’t “wake up” to bluff when an Ace hits the river and they don’t do it for 4/5th of the pot. Thoughts Alan & Andrew?

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