Many Tight-Aggressive players do a poor job of mixing up their ranges for raising from Early Position. This means that you can often identify boards on which your perceived range is stronger than theirs and bluff relentlessly:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (7 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($252)
SB ($1228.25)
BB ($1014.80)
UTG ($741)
MP1 ($398.35)
Hero ($780)
CO ($831.95)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7c, 7s.
UTG raises to $18, MP1 calls $18, Hero calls $18, 1 fold, Button calls $18, SB calls $15, 1 fold.
Flop: ($96) 8d, 5h, 9h (5 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $54, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $137, Button folds, SB folds, UTG folds.
Final Pot: $287
Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins $287.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG ($672)
UTG+1 ($642)
MP1 ($615)
MP2 ($649.05)
Hero ($600)
CO ($989.85)
Button ($1329.30)
SB ($267.90)
BB ($631.65)
Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 4d, 4h.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $18, 1 fold, MP2 calls $18, Hero calls $18, 3 folds, BB raises to $60, UTG+1 folds, MP2 calls $42, Hero calls $42.
Flop: ($201) Td, 5h, 7s (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero checks.
Turn: ($201) 5d (3 players)
BB bets $66, MP2 folds, Hero raises to $169, BB calls $103.
River: ($539) 7d (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $371 (All-In), BB folds.
Final Pot: $910
Results in white below:
Hero has 4d 4h (two pair, sevens and fives).
Outcome: Hero wins $910.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you an example of how to combat bluffs like these.
Can’t wait to see the defense. This is a leak of mine. Defending against those kind of plays.
On the first hand, what do you think the chance is that the SB or button have a hand? 88, 55, 99, and 67 are definitely in their pre-flop calling range. I’m guessing you think it’s low enough that this a + EV play.
I would point out that having 77 gives us blockers to the nut straight, and that there aren’t THAT many combos of sets. Lastly, raising with players left to act behind us looks super-strong, and may even make sets question their relative strength.
Well said.
Surely BTN has all sets in his range but, we have blockers to 67.
Sets on this board are 9 hand combos and 67s would be 2 more. There’s just a ton of hand combos in BTN/SBs range that are wider than these 11 combos.
We have tons of FE vs UTG’s range (he really has to fold all overpairs), and we get folds from everyone else way more often than they wake up with a real hand.
Even if SB has 55, it’s actually a really gross spot for him to be in, as we’re probably not raising any worse hand than 55 for value here.
Yeah if I’m one of the guys left to act with 55 I fold without thinking too much about it. Certainly there’s a chance one of them wakes up with something, but it’s slim.
Hand 1 I really like
Hand 2 i’m a little bit less a fan of. The turn/river really reduce the plausible number of hand combos you can rep. I think you can get hero’d a decent % by a BB who realizes that 1 pair is the top of his range on this board.
I also think its unlikely you’d raise naked diamonds on the turn.
Obviously if you think he’s folding overpairs on the river, its a great bluff. I can see some good hand readers calling here, given all you rep is like 6-8 ‘legit’ hand combos (TT, 55, 77, 65, A5)
I should add that Villain was one of the weaker players at the table. I actually think there’s a chance I had the best hand on the turn, so once I get counterfeited on the river that’s all the more reason to shove.