Turning our hand into a bluff
Turning our hand into a bluff

Turning our hand into a bluff

10-25
We are in ep raise with 89tj ss to 100 after a limp

Get 3 callers

Flop (400)
QQ9 with 2 diamonds ( we have 10,8 diamonds )

Checks around .

Turn 10 .
Sb bets 200

Folds to me , I call .

Sb is a very loose player , have been seen bluffing when action is checked before.
Stack around 6000 , we cover.

River (800) - Q

He instantly bets 500.

Is this a good spot to raise ?

29 April 2025 at 08:10 PM
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11 Replies



I don't think so as either he has quads or you have the best hand - you could easily have Qx here or AA and yet here he is betting into you. I would probably fold tbh


Flop is prob fine given our range doesn't have a ton of bets anyway and ranges will be far more honest multiway

Turn I'm just folding. I hear what you're saying about this player being looser but are they loose in this exact type of spot or different ones when the flop is checked around? Even if they're looser they still just lead 4 ways oop 3 ways. True yourself and others are capped but for his "bluff" to work he needs to realistically expect to bet 2 streets and have his opponent call with worse enough to fold to the 2nd river barrel imo. We can easily have reverse implieds on all rivers as well. Goal vs these players, imo, is to make small adjustments - not large ones.

River as played: I'm just folding. If he's bluffing it's whatever imo. Even for a loose player this board is very very good for sb's calling range as well as the river.

Even though he's basically polarized to Qx or bluffs we also heavily block his bluffing range T9.

If you do decide to bluff I'd just click back here vs big raise given we're attacking a very heavy polar range.
Imo the decision on the turn is far more important than river one.


Turn call is close but I think it's probably okay, blocking the underboats, being IP, and with a magic out.

Doubt he ever instabets 500 here with 22-88. Can't see him doing that with JJ or KK either tbh. So I either you're putting him on AA that you think you can get him to fold, which he probably should, but then you're repping one hand exactly having checked back the flop, so maybe he doesn't. I think call is better than raise but fold is better than call.


I'm OK with the turn call, but I probably just sigh-call the river. Does he really think you will fold AA/KK? Looks like value to me. If he shows a bluff, more power to him.


Turn is where you should have raised if you wanted. You unblock the Q, aces and kings and you block the boat with the pair blockers and have a straight who can get value from naked Qs. You also could have bet the flop for a 1/3rd sizing as well.

River the pair blockers seem irrelevant. you have a lot of the cards you want him to have that he could be bluffing with like a J, T and 9 and unblock aces and kings.

To bluff you want a hand like AKxx that doesn’t have a T, J, 9 or 8


by Echemondo m

Turn is where you should have raised if you wanted. You unblock the Q, aces and kings and you block the boat with the pair blockers and have a straight who can get value from naked Qs. You also could have bet the flop for a 1/3rd sizing as well. River the pair blockers seem irrelevant. you have a lot of the cards you want him to have that he could be bluffing with like a J, T a

I don't like a small bet on this flop .
With q we probably bet big , so it really faces our hand up . And if we get raised we probably need to fold and give up our equity.

Why do we want to raise turn ?


by Echemondo m

Turn is where you should have raised if you wanted. You unblock the Q, aces and kings and you block the boat with the pair blockers and have a straight who can get value from naked Qs. You also could have bet the flop for a 1/3rd sizing as well. River the pair blockers seem irrelevant. you have a lot of the cards you want him to have that he could be bluffing with like a J, T a

Imo raising turn here isn't a mistake but closer to a punt. Also AA isn't in sb's range. We don't accomplish anything by raising aside from unnecessarily narrowing our opponent's range to very strong continues (often better as well). Also villain won't be playing KK like this. Not trying to be a jerk but I think your hand reading is a little off.

We also have to respect sb leads less in practice vs theory so their checking range can be stronger.

If i have time will run a monker sim on this later.


I don't think river is a very good raise. Turn is, due to blocking properties like Echemondo said. Of course you can also call if you think villain is too bluffy. Fold river imo.


In theory this flop is a check or bet 33. We have no large sizing on paired boards in SRP.

Turn our bluffs are all derived from straight blocking cards and we also can raise straights for value vs naked Q. Calling is fine as well.

The straights we do raise have pair blockers like a T or 9. This hand fits right in naturally. The goal is value from a naked Q

Also thinking SB has no AA is a big mistake. Deep and OOP we have quite a few rainbow and trip AA in a SB calling range. The worst AA are solid calls in theory.


by Echemondo m

In theory this flop is a check or bet 33. We have no large sizing on paired boards in SRP. Turn our bluffs are all derived from straight blocking cards and we also can raise straights for value vs naked Q. Calling is fine as well. The straights we do raise have pair blockers like a T or 9. This hand fits right in naturally. The goal is value from a naked QAlso thinking SB has n

I think the problem is trying to find bluffs in this spot, which is a bit of a mistake I'd argue. Also what Qx combos does villain just flat that doesn't make a boat or come with a straight from the sb? Villain also just lead multiway on a board that's relatively good for their range. Trying to bluff a strong range multiway is lighting money on fire imo.

Regarding preflop a live player won't almost ever put AA in their flat range even deep. Agree in theory we do flat some bad AA (most AAA rb is actually just a fold). but this is deeper in theory land....not in real life land. Also more importantly, from a hand reading perspective, villain won't take this line with AA so unblocking AA is virtually useless.


You are assuming naked trip Q is a bluff. I’d argue a naked Q would take this line for value, especially after a checked thru flop.

SB also led on a checked thru flop. Both AA and KK can do this for value with relevant blockers such as a J, T or 9 in hand.

As far as what hands are just a naked Q, well quite a bit in a fish 60% range. We aren’t talking tight GTO ranges but even in those they have potential for a few AKQx type hands. In a fish range we have exponentially more. I’ve seen as ridiculous as KQ74 in live play as I’m sure we all have.

Also in a live fish range I’ve seen limp/calls with even the best double suited aces with the mindset of β€œthey r just aces”. Same with even the best double suited Kings. There’s a lot of nonsense here we can just get value from and/or force folds from with bluffs.

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