My Biggest Bluff

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ph_il

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Here is one of the biggest bluffs i had ever pulled off in my life. I recieved mixed reactions from the table; some said it was brilliant and well played, others said that i was crazy and wild, and the guy i bluffed got a bit steamed. Heres what happened:

I was playing in a $100. NL Hold 'Em at a casino. I had been playing for a few hours now, had a good read on the players and their styles, had managed to build my stack up to just a little uner $300. I had also been playing very tight and conservative, but at the same time really trusting my reads and instincts when it came to going up against other players and the table really picked up that i played tight and didnt get too involved in pots unless i had a strong hand. Sitting across from me was another tight and conservative player and we never really got to involved in a pot together. I had been keeping an eye on this other tight player and watched how he played big pocket pairs (how muched he raised preflop, how he played the flop) and it was a bit predictable: the bigger the PFR the stronger the hand.

In one hand he was in early position and raised it $12.00 to go. it gets folded to me and im holding JJ. He had not bet $12.00 at all that night before so i didnt believe he was holding that good of a hand. Thinking back at previous hands he had raised it $25.00 to go with QQ, so i knew he didnt have a big pocket pair. so i decided that i had a better hand. i reraised him $20 over his bet, it gets folded to him and he just calls.

The flop comes out A(h), K(s), 5(h). He bets out $20.00 and it seemed a bit weak to me. i knew he didnt have the A, but the K was a bit scary. I started thinking he couldve raised with KJ or KQ maybe, but i decided to play the A and i reraised him $40.00 more and he just calls again.

The turn card is a 10(h)...yikes the flush draw card hit, but i couldnt let it scare me. He studies the board, looks at me, and then checks. i bet out $40.00. He studies some more, looks at me, looks back at the board, and then he starts counting out his chips. He counts out my $40.00 i bet and begins to stack the rest of his chips. He looks at me again and i say "i have a little under $200. left." he says "Excuse me?" I say "i have a bit under $200. left if you plan on reraising me, you might as well push all in right now." He thinks for a bit, then just calls my bet.

The river is a 3(c), he checks and i push all in it. He shakes his hand, looks at his cards, studies the board, and then he mucks his cards face up, showing a KQ. I started to lay my hand face down, but the table asked to see since it was such an intense hand that was played. so i flipped over my JJ, smiled, shook a couple of hands and stacked my chips.
 
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Creativ3

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Well played. I wondered if he tried to win it back or left the table.
 
Jesus Lederer

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If you reraised him preflop and then in the flop came an A, i think it´s very correct to represent that A, specially if your opponent raised a little preflop indicating you that he hadn´t a really strong hand. If he was really tight, calling that reraise wasn´t his best play, maybe he felt pot commited. And that read you put on him was really good. You had him dominated from the first moment. I think your best moves on that hand was to read you opponent hand preflop and the most crucial moment was to don´t be scared about that bet on the flop, because you trusted in your first read. His check-call on the turn was a poor play, but in general you played very well that hand.
The only thing i would have considered if i were your opponent, it was to see a tell that you gave. Saying: "i have a bit under $200. left if you plan on reraising me, you might as well push all in right now." it´s a tell that indicates weakness. You were inviting him to reraise you going all in, trying to show strenght as if you really wanted him to raise. And that strenght means weakness. But maybe at that point he felt that all the bets and raises you made before meant strenght, so you did a really good job.
Keep playing like that.
 
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^ WOOT!!!! Lederers advice is great.


i think he made mistakes tho...u got lucky that he folded
 
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philthy said:
Here is one of the biggest bluffs i had ever pulled off in my life. I recieved mixed reactions from the table; some said it was brilliant and well played, others said that i was crazy and wild, and the guy i bluffed got a bit steamed. Heres what happened:

I was playing in a $100. NL Hold 'Em at a casino. I had been playing for a few hours now, had a good read on the players and their styles, had managed to build my stack up to just a little uner $300. I had also been playing very tight and conservative, but at the same time really trusting my reads and instincts when it came to going up against other players and the table really picked up that i played tight and didnt get too involved in pots unless i had a strong hand. Sitting across from me was another tight and conservative player and we never really got to involved in a pot together. I had been keeping an eye on this other tight player and watched how he played big pocket pairs (how muched he raised preflop, how he played the flop) and it was a bit predictable: the bigger the PFR the stronger the hand.

In one hand he was in early position and raised it $12.00 to go. it gets folded to me and im holding JJ. He had not bet $12.00 at all that night before so i didnt believe he was holding that good of a hand. Thinking back at previous hands he had raised it $25.00 to go with QQ, so i knew he didnt have a big pocket pair. so i decided that i had a better hand. i reraised him $20 over his bet, it gets folded to him and he just calls.

The flop comes out A(h), K(s), 5(h). He bets out $20.00 and it seemed a bit weak to me. i knew he didnt have the A, but the K was a bit scary. I started thinking he couldve raised with KJ or KQ maybe, but i decided to play the A and i reraised him $40.00 more and he just calls again.

The turn card is a 10(h)...yikes the flush draw card hit, but i couldnt let it scare me. He studies the board, looks at me, and then checks. i bet out $40.00. He studies some more, looks at me, looks back at the board, and then he starts counting out his chips. He counts out my $40.00 i bet and begins to stack the rest of his chips. He looks at me again and i say "i have a little under $200. left." he says "Excuse me?" I say "i have a bit under $200. left if you plan on reraising me, you might as well push all in right now." He thinks for a bit, then just calls my bet.

The river is a 3(c), he checks and i push all in it. He shakes his hand, looks at his cards, studies the board, and then he mucks his cards face up, showing a KQ. I started to lay my hand face down, but the table asked to see since it was such an intense hand that was played. so i flipped over my JJ, smiled, shook a couple of hands and stacked my chips.

i think that is good play!!!

well done!

what happened after??
 
MicheleW

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I don't think it was a great bluff really. You didn't really bluff at all but made him look at his own hand. Sure he had K's but you also had J's and you both had a possible straight.

It was a judgement call on his part whether he wanted to lay it down or play. Actually, by you saying what you did - it would have told me you were bluffing. Talking usually shows weakness. You're darn lucky he didn't call you!
 
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Well, maybe i shouldve mentioned this earlier in this thread, but i've mentioned it in other post before. Im not a quiet player at the table, im very talkative, very social...i like to really interact with other players at the table. Either while in hand with someone, i try to get people to talk to me or in between hands, i like to try and chat it up. I try to send a mix message: im carefree, just want to have a good time and play poker, have a good laugh and what-not, but at the same time im a very tight, very conservative player (again, ive mentioned this many times). Im not a loose, call you with anything, type of player that people might think i am when i first sit down.

True, what i said was probably the wrong thing to say at the wrong time, but if you look at it, its both of the tables tightest players going head to head. In my head i was thinking that there was no way this person could call me with a K and an A showing when the other tight player just reraised him preflop. and i was hoping he was thinking "I dont think he would be bluffing at a time like this."

again, choice words were bad, and yes i was lucky he didnt call, but if he did...oh well. if i lost, i would gotten up and shook his hand and said "good call" or "good game".

afterwards, nothing much happened, poker continued. i played for a couple more hours, won a number of pots. lost a number of blinds and a few pots and i cashed out just under $400.
 
Devilpoker78

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It was a good play Philty, but like Michele said I couldve done without the talk. Not that you shouldnt talk at all but you did it at a wrong time. Im sure you know by now the basic tells of poker and one of them is when someone tries to tell you they gonna raise next it usually tells you that they are bluffing. I think the fact that you usually talked alot might have helped you bluff your way out of that one but otherwise it was a solid bluff, im glad u won keep it up!
 
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