I talk often in my videos about playing a young person’s game being
old. To give you some perspective, I am not that old, I started playing
poker when I was 33 in 2005 and now I am just about to hit 40.
Traditionally, most low stakes players are going to play extremely tight
and passive which for the most part is how I started playing years ago.
In the past few years, my game has changed a lot where I have keyed in
some aggression, more like timed aggression, trying to find the right
spots to make it work. For this article, I am going to discuss a hand
and pick it apart where my bluffing was successful. This hand is from a
$13.50 knockout tournament from Pokerstars.
I am not sure why I like discussing bluffing so often. In small
stakes MTTs, it’s barely a part of the game anymore as so many players
are calling stations and picking spots to bluff can become too
difficult. I think it is because it’s almost a life skill to recognize
these spots and I kind of take pride in being able to read a situation.
So onto the hand so I can explain what on earth I was trying to
accomplish in this hand.
THE HAND
PokerStars Hand No. 79661159281: Tournament No. 570011307,
$10+$2.50+$1 USD Hold’em No Limit — Level VI (100/200) — 2012/04/29
21:04:46 ET
Table ‘570011307 43’ 9-max Seat No. 4 is the button
Seat 1: coibeS (3,600 in chips)
Seat 2: sick_moruk (3,505 in chips)
Seat 3: zia777 (5,385 in chips)
Seat 4: zachjackdad (14,995 in chips)
Seat 5: candastew (4,075 in chips)
Seat 6: logsylewis (10,980 in chips)
Seat 7: ayoudat (3,000 in chips)
Seat 8: OK4Y (2,260 in chips)
Seat 9: heki55 (3,000 in chips)
candastew: posts small blind 100
logsylewis: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zachjackdad [A♣ T♠]
ayoudat: folds
OK4Y: folds
heki55: folds
coibeS: folds
sick_moruk: folds
zia777: folds
zachjackdad: raises 200 to 400
candastew: folds
logsylewis: raises 735 to 1135
zachjackdad: calls 735
*** FLOP *** [4♦ 6♦ 3♠]
logsylewis: bets 800
zachjackdad: calls 800
*** TURN *** [4♦ 6♦ 3♠] [k♠]
logsylewis: checks
zachjackdad: bets 1,800
logsylewis: calls 1,800
*** RiVER *** [4♦ 6♦ 3♠ k♠] [j♦]
logsylewis: checks
zachjackdad: bets 11,260 and is all-in
logsylewis: folds
Uncalled bet (11,260) returned to zachjackdad
zachjackdad collected 7,570 from pot
zachjackdad: doesn’t show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,570 | Rake 0
Board [4♦ 6♦ 3♠ K♠ J♦]
Seat 1: coibeS folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: sick_moruk folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: zia777 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: zachjackdad (button) collected (7,570)
Seat 5: candastew (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: logsylewis (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 7: ayoudat folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: OK4Y folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: heki55 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Preflop: Sitting with 75BBs I am going to be opening
ATo 100% of the time. It folds to me in the cutoff. Many would say I
should be folding to the 3b pre, however, having position and looking at
the villain’s 50bb stack, I like my call preflop.
On The Flop: My call on the flop seems kind of
crazy, however, most hands that will 3bet pre are not going to hit this
flop, so the villain either has a pocket pair or high cards like mine,
but with the strength of position, I can see another card without having
to worry about getting raised.
On The Turn: At this point, it feels like the
villain is giving up on the hand but if I check, I will likely get
called on the river by many hands that I cannot beat at showdown,
however if I bet here my hand tells a more credible story, the most
important part of bluffing. You have to tell a story which is to say
most strong hands will never check back this turn and I am trying to
represent a strong hand in this situation. I believe the villain, if he
had a king, would have led the turn once he checks. I believe his range
cannot beat a pair of kings.
On The River: The river play is quite simple. My
hand has to continue to tell a story which, again, as the river blanks
only very strong hands, should be betting here. I think I occasionally
have the best hand preflop and on the flop, but with his turn card, I
know that A-high isn’t good enough. This makes the river shove mandatory
if I am going to win this hand.
In conclusion, bluffing needs to be done very carefully and
strategically in smaller stakes MTTs since villains will call you
lightly. Lastly, breaking down hands like this is imperative to
improving your game. If you cannot explain your thought process on a
hand, like I just did, you now have one fundamental skill you can work
on to improve your game. Good Luck at the tables!
source : bluff
