My Bad River Bluff at $200 NL

Posted on Sep 27, 2009 by Gugel in Hand Reading and Tells, Poker Strategy

I’m playing $200 NL against Cricket Scores, a somewhat decent regular. We stacked off preflop when my AKs ran into his pocket queens. At this point, we’ve only played like 20 hands or so.

BB ($395.50)
Hero (SB) ($205.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Js, 2c
Hero bets $6, BB calls $4

Flop: ($12) 5c, 7h, 10d (2 players)
BB bets $7, Hero calls $7
This is the first time he’s donked into me, so I have no idea what his donking-range is. Folding here is definitely standard, but there’s a lot of cards that can come on the turn that I can bluff.

Turn: ($26) 10s (2 players)
BB bets $18, Hero raises to $42.50, BB calls $24.50
This is a really awesome card for me and if I call the flop, this is a must-bluff situation.

River: ($111) 7d (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $55.50
Here, I think I made a mistake. There is absolutely no need to bluff here. I’m only getting weaker hands to fold (like 68 or 89). My jack high might be good!

He ended up shoving over my river bet and I obviously folded.

Before you fire out a bluff, always think about hands the villain might have that are stronger than yours and if the villain will fold those hands. If no stronger hand folds, then it’s a bad bluff! In this case, there just wasn’t many hands that the villain could conceivably have that are stronger than mine and would fold to my bet.

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2 Responses to “My Bad River Bluff at $200 NL”

  1. Hank

    28. Sep, 2009

    Hey Gugel,
    I started reading your blog a couple weeks ago and love it. I’ve found that aganist the players at $0.50/1 the villians donking range is polarized to draws and top pair. Which kind of makes sense since they are trying to protect their vulnerable hand. So in this case I’m not really sure why the board pairing is good?
    I’m also not sure that the bluff raise on the turn is enough to get alot of players off a draw or second pair.
    This post got me thinking about the whole donk bet thing. I rarely use it, so I was wondering what situations you thought are appropriate to donk (if ever)?
    In any case, thanks the info and I look forward to posting on the board soon.

  2. Gugel

    28. Sep, 2009

    @Hank

    This is the first time he donkbet so it really could mean almost anything — air, bottom pair, top pair, a draw and even a set.

    Anyway, when the board pairs, it’s usually a bad situation to bluff. In this case, however, it’s actually good because he can really only stand a raise with Tx, 77, or 55. If he has a draw of some kind, he has a best 8 outs or about a 16% chance of getting there on the river. And even if he get’s there, he has no idea if his hand is good (I might have a fullhouse). If he calls with a 68 or 89, he’s never going to bluff on the river and then I’ll win the pot the vast majority of time with jack-high.

    Donk betting should definitely be incorporated into your game, but the subject is a bit too involved for a comment. Good idea for a post though :)

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