Bluffing, Then Value Betting, Then Bluff Catching
Today's hand is an interesting one which involves me bluffing, then value betting, then ultimately being left with a bluff catcher on the end. Ultimately as the postflop streets progress this single hand illustrates how to play several different types of hands and situations.
Things begin with a somewhat loose open by me from the "lojack" (one seat before the hijack). The blinds were 800/1,600 with a 200 ante, and with Q♦J♥ I raised to 3,800. The stacks were deep — I started with about 140,000, and my only caller was a younger player on the button with about 90,000 to begin.
The flop came A♦9♣8♣, giving me a very marginal draw. As I discuss in the video below, after comparing my likely preflop raising range and my opponent's likely preflop calling range, I continued with a bet of 4,000 (about 40 percent pot). My opponent called the c-bet, forcing me to think further about how doing so narrowed his range further.
The turn brought the J♠, and with my marginal made hand (and marginal draw) I had to decide between checking or betting small and I went for the latter, betting 6,000 (about one-third pot). The button called again.
With the pot up close to 32,000, the 5♥ river completed the board and after I checked my opponent bet. See how things ultimately played out and hear my thinking on each street:
In the end this hand saw me bluffing, then value betting, then calling on the river with a bluff catcher. Poker is easy sometimes!
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,700,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
