Why You Should Never Bluff a Calling Station
There were many intriguing hands featured on the live stream of different events during the recently completed 888Live Rozvadov Festival in the Czech Republic. One from the €5,300 High Roller eventually won by [Removed:291] featured a river bluff gone wrong, with the bluffer — Henri Buehler — taking time the next day to discuss the hand with PokerNews.
Buehler recounts the action below, though via the live stream we can fill in some more particulars.
He'd been playing for a while with his opponent in the hand, having noted him to be very loose and opening with a wide range of hands. But Buehler also noticed the player had been less wild after the flop, often continuation betting but giving up after firing one barrel if he hadn't connected with the board.
In this hand the blinds were 800/1,600 when Buehler's opponent raised to 4,000 from middle position. Buehler chose to defend his big blind with a call holding Q♥3♠. (He says queen-deuce in the video, though the stream showed his hand as queen-trey.) Buehler had about 63,000 to start the hand, and his opponent about 81,000.
After a flop of 9♥J♥9♣ Buehler checked, then watched his opponent bet 5,500 (about half the pot). Buehler called — a "float" from out of position, he describes it, as he intended to try to take the pot away with a bluff on a future street.
With the pot up to 21,400 the turn brought the J♠ to double-pair the board, and both players checked. The A♠ then fell on the river, and that's when Buehler chose to fire a decent-sized bet of 13,000 in an effort to steal the pot.
Alas for Buehler, his opponent instantly called. Hear what his opponent had and Buehler's laughing response to his failed bluff attempt.
For more from Buehler, be sure to check out his Twitch channel — twitch.tv/buehlero.
