Bluffing a small stack
1-3 nl 7 handed
Main V BB ~90. Middle aged middle eastern. Had a bigger stack earlier has lost several hands and is now short. Plays a lot of hands. Seems to bet and bluff early and often. He should be a voter.
H MAWG HJ $400 tight aggressive though I don’t think this matters to V.
Table has been loose passive conservative and boring. The exception would be V.
Pre
One limper
H $15 with Ad10c
Folds to V in BB Who calls. Limper folds
Flop ($30 after rake) K J J with two diamonds
V bets $20 with what looks like about $50 behind
H thinks for a time. I know he bluffs. I know he is short so making a bad move here won’t hurt me much. V would most likely let me bet if he has a J. Most players would check call a King here. I have the Ad which makes it less likely V is on diamonds. I have a ten. Does this mean I’m blocking straight draws too?
I ask if V has any green chips behind his stack. He had some green earlier. V seems distracted. Dealer tells me all he has is the short stack of red.
H shoves.
V quickly calls.
Reveal in a day or so.
5 Replies
Lol. He donked 2/3 pot and has a little more than 2/3 pot behind. He isn't folding often. You are getting about 1.4-1 to stack off. It is more a question of whether you have enough equity. It is close, because he could have draws you are ahead of and underpairs you are even with. If he folds, you are ahead or have a lot of equity. I like the shove, but it isn't a bluff.
Confused why you jammed. Did you think you were ahead of his donking range?
We're either ahead or we aren't.
If we're ahead, we wouldn't want him to stop bluffing. If we're behind, we can either fold, or flat call and see a turn. Maybe we'll make our straight, or he'll slow down and check, and we can see a free river. It's not like he's going to fold KX or JX.
I suppose he could call with QT, maybe, and we get the rest of his stack on brick run-outs.
Hand is pretty weak to trap with. You don't want to give him free cards to make a flush or pair. You don't need to be ahead of his range, as 30 is in the pot. If you think you have enough equity, I would shove rather than call.
I didn’t think he had a King or a Jack.
I shove
V quickly calls
I flip over my cards and say I’m in trouble
Turn a 3 diamonds I ask for more help.
River is another king. I still think I’m in trouble
V turns over Q9o god bless his soul.
I didn't think he had a King or a Jack.
I shove
V quickly calls
I flip over my cards and say I'm in trouble
Turn a 3 diamonds I ask for more help.
River is another king. I still think I'm in trouble
V turns over Q9o god bless his soul.
This happens more than you think. The short stack thinks they have a license to get it in with lots of different hands. A better move by villain would have been to shove the flop.
In my experience, cash players are not strong at playing the short stack. They think they can play more hands, because they realize their equity. Many are just looking for a reason to rebuy.
A poor player with a short stack is a disaster and most of the players playing short are like this. I don’t know if this is a particularly great play by you, but it’s definitely a bad play by villain. I’d be hoping he hangs around.
