zachvac
Legend
Silver Level
So you hear it all the time, bluffs have to be believable.
Now if this is true, it implies that if your bluff is not believable that you will be called down with a decent but not great hand.
How about an example. I'm playing this kid live heads-up, I have something like J7 (all these cards are pretty much made-up, I remember what happened just not the exact cards). I'm on the button, I call, he raises 3x (we're playing 25c/50c so he raises to $1.50), I call. Flop comes something like K53. He checks, I check behind. Turn is a 6. He bets $2, I come over the top to $6, and he flat calls (pot size is now $15). River brings another K. He checks, I bet $13. He thinks for a long time, says something like "well there's no way that K helped you, and if you hit the 6 you wouldn't have raised then bet that strong after the call. I call, I've got A high". He made a really good call on a not so well-executed bluff, and I imagine some people here would have made that call too.
Now what if I had something like 33 or 55 for a set and a rivered full house? Most of the time betting strong is a mistake as it mostly folds out the worse hands, but when you have a thinking opponent, betting really strong with a strong hand will make your opponent put you on a bluff and maybe make a call.
Well that's basically what happened. Same HU session and I flopped a set. I tried to play it exactly the same way. This time I check-called the flop, bet the turn hard, and bet over pot on the river. Now he may have called me anyway, as he had top pair that hand, but he called and I made up for my failed bluff.
Now I know people have thought that before, but let's take it one step further. If you're playing a thinking opponent, who may make a move like that, raising hard with a hand trying to make it look like a not very good bluff, than calling down a bet that looks like a bluff may not be a very good play because you know your opponent will represent a bluff to you with a monster hand. So of course against most online players or any players that we'd play against in home games and casinos and such bluffs must be believable, but when you are playing very good players, who may take that one step further and put you on perhaps a good hand trying to represent a bluff and get their big bet called, is it sometimes good to mix in a bluff that makes no sense?
Now if this is true, it implies that if your bluff is not believable that you will be called down with a decent but not great hand.
How about an example. I'm playing this kid live heads-up, I have something like J7 (all these cards are pretty much made-up, I remember what happened just not the exact cards). I'm on the button, I call, he raises 3x (we're playing 25c/50c so he raises to $1.50), I call. Flop comes something like K53. He checks, I check behind. Turn is a 6. He bets $2, I come over the top to $6, and he flat calls (pot size is now $15). River brings another K. He checks, I bet $13. He thinks for a long time, says something like "well there's no way that K helped you, and if you hit the 6 you wouldn't have raised then bet that strong after the call. I call, I've got A high". He made a really good call on a not so well-executed bluff, and I imagine some people here would have made that call too.
Now what if I had something like 33 or 55 for a set and a rivered full house? Most of the time betting strong is a mistake as it mostly folds out the worse hands, but when you have a thinking opponent, betting really strong with a strong hand will make your opponent put you on a bluff and maybe make a call.
Well that's basically what happened. Same HU session and I flopped a set. I tried to play it exactly the same way. This time I check-called the flop, bet the turn hard, and bet over pot on the river. Now he may have called me anyway, as he had top pair that hand, but he called and I made up for my failed bluff.
Now I know people have thought that before, but let's take it one step further. If you're playing a thinking opponent, who may make a move like that, raising hard with a hand trying to make it look like a not very good bluff, than calling down a bet that looks like a bluff may not be a very good play because you know your opponent will represent a bluff to you with a monster hand. So of course against most online players or any players that we'd play against in home games and casinos and such bluffs must be believable, but when you are playing very good players, who may take that one step further and put you on perhaps a good hand trying to represent a bluff and get their big bet called, is it sometimes good to mix in a bluff that makes no sense?