Post Oak Bluffs

For those who don't know what this is , a brief explanation.

A post oak bluff is a small semi-bluff that is made to protect a good drawing hand. Let's say you have A-K suited in a pot raised by your opponent. The flop comes Q-J-6 and you now have a one way straight draw and a nut flush draw. Your opponent is a lag player and you are sure he will make a large continuation bet if you check to him.Instead of checking to him and being raised off of you draw you make a small quarter to half pot raise , hoping to convince him/her not to put in a raise that would be hard for you to call based on your stack size. If you make your opponent think twice here about hammering the pot , he/she might call you down instead. This way you get to see the next street at an acceptable price.

Now I know most experts will advise you never to use this play but for me it works quite well at micro limits.If you read super system , which is the only book i own or have read , Doyle Brunson will tell you never to use it. I do not necessarily disagree with Doyle on this. At the stakes he is playing , players thinking at that level will recognize a bet which shows weakness and protect their hand anyway and you will either have to gamble or lose your post oak bet. However , at micro limits you can usually get the donkeys to change their minds and just call unless they have a monster.

Has anybody here ever used this play at higher end limits online and how has it worked out for you?

If I have a GS+FD+Overs I'm always willing to play for stacks so I would never bet small with the hand in your example.

Donk betting will pick up a lot of pots at 2nl and 5nl. A lot of players don't understand cbetting and you can effectively cbet when you're not the pre-flop aggressor, whether the flop hit your range or not but you've got to pick your players and board textures carefully.

Donk betting in any circumstances other than that tends to make regs spaz out. Some fold too much to donk bets (me), some raise ATC (most people), either way people react badly to them and because of that it's something you should use but it's very player dependent.

Regs look to see what you're donk betting with... eh... any regs good enough to pay attention anyway, so be careful about doing it with the same type of hand.

FWIW, Doyle Brunson wasn't playing against rocket scientists, the game has evolved a lot since he wrote that book and it's common opinion that the games are dramatically tougher now.
I also think you've got the definition of post oak bluff wrong, it's just a small bet, but I haven't read Super System in quite a while and could be wrong (did a quick google search and wikipedia agrees with me, but if the book says different I stand corrected).

Eh, missed that you had the nut flush draw too. Yeah, bet big.

Go on then, I'm confused.

I thought a post oak bluff was a small bet on the end made to look like you're strong and trying to eke out a bit of value. Obviously high risk of being called but not much cost if it is.

Isn't what you describe a blocking bet?

In super system 2 Doyle states "my opponent might be trying to pull off a post oak bluff just to get a chance at a draw. Well that's a gutless bet.The tight player who made the small bet on the flop is asking me to take his money.In most cases that's exactly what I'm going to do when the next card falls.As you can probably guess I never post oak bluff.

This is taken is pieces and is not the full article but you can read this on page 531. I also got a definition from the glossary that said it is a small bet made into a large pot in hopes that opponents will give up pot so it is conflicting a bit so maybe Doyle has the definition wrong as well.I use this bet to try to get a better price for draws but i agree the example i supplied is super strong draw and should be hammered. Just a bad example I used .

Just to add he says he considers a bet like that to see a draw after the flop a post oak bluff also.

It's all about levels and reads.

If it's working for you at micro stakes I suspect it's not working as a post-oak bluff per se though. What's more likely is that donkeys are calling you on previous streets with draws or some other weak hand then when they get to the river and they don't hit they're folding to any bet because, well, they have nothing. I doubt they're going through the "I've got a hand but that bet is suspiciously small maybe he wants me to think he's weak he's probably really strong here oh crap I fold" thought process that a post-oak bluff is supposed to induce.