$10 NLHE MTT: An interesting bluffing spot

[Ecolando]

What do you think of my play here. I had the chips to spare and I thought I had shoved with enough.. the guy sat there for a good minute before making the call on the river.

What do you think?




Winning Poker, Hold'em No Limit - 900/1,800 (215 ante) - 9 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

Itztricky123 (UTG): 40,160 (22 bb)
UncleNicky1980 (UTG+1): 152,664 (85 bb)
Caddycarl (MP): 50,394 (28 bb)
StrongFinish (MP+1): 46,066 (26 bb)
Ecolando (LP): 87,468 (49 bb)
Troutcrusher42 (CO): 78,606 (44 bb)
Saskar88 (BU): 52,847 (29 bb)
Sqwishy44 (SB): 28,831 (16 bb)
CAragon (BB): 110,181 (61 bb)

Pre-Flop: (4,635) Hero (Ecolando) is LP with J♣ T♦
4 players fold, Ecolando (LP) raises to 3,600, 3 players fold, CAragon (BB) calls 1,800

Flop: (10,035) 2♥ J♥ Q♥ (2 players)
CAragon (BB) checks, Ecolando (LP) checks

Turn: (10,035) 4♣ (2 players)
CAragon (BB) bets 5,018, Ecolando (LP) calls 5,018

River: (20,071) K♥ (2 players)
CAragon (BB) checks, Ecolando (LP) bets 15,053, CAragon (BB) calls 15,053

Total pot: 50,177

Showdown:
Ecolando (LP) shows J♣ T♦ (a pair of Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 69%, Flop: 62%, Turn: 80%, River: 0%)

CAragon (BB) shows 5♥ 9♦ (a flush, King high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 31%, Flop: 38%, Turn: 20%, River: 100%)

CAragon (BB) wins 50,177

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Opening JTo from HJ is a bit on the loose side.

Flop
Totally fine checking back second pair here for pot control.

Turn
Totally fine taking one off with a bluff catcher.

River
Now there is a 1-liner to a flush, and you decide to turn your hand into a bluff. I dont know, what I think about this. On one side it is very difficult to find bluffs on these kind of boards, so maybe JT is one of the worst hands, you can have. Which is then an argument for bluffing, if you are trying to play a GTO style of poker. On the other side you have some showdown value here, and that is a strong argument for not bluffing, because then he need to massively overfold for your bluff to be profitable.

 

[Ecolando]

Preflop
Opening JTo from HJ is a bit on the loose side.

Flop
Totally fine checking back second pair here for pot control.

Turn
Totally fine taking one off with a bluff catcher.

River
Now there is a 1-liner to a flush, and you decide to turn your hand into a bluff. I dont know, what I think about this. On one side it is very difficult to find bluffs on these kind of boards, so maybe JT is one of the worst hands, you can have. Which is then an argument for bluffing, if you are trying to play a GTO style of poker. On the other side you have some showdown value here, and that is a strong argument for not bluffing, because then he need to massively overfold for your bluff to be profitable.

Good point on the river. I definitely hesitated making that play.

 

[Shumkoolie]

I'm curious as to villain's stats or just a general assessment of their play. Just at looking at this as a "snapshot", I get the impression that you ran into someone who's a bit of a Station here, and may even be one of those players who plays a bit "auto pilot-ish".

Their defend in the big blind is very loose. But I agree with what fundiver in that it is a tough board to bluff on because you're only going to be called by better, though not all the time. You will often get baby flushes to fold hands.

You could take a more aggressive track here and raise on the turn, to apply pressure on him, then barrel the river. That would be a higher variance play to take for sure, but one that might work as well......just a thought on this.

But, you do have showdown value too, and perhaps giving up on the river and checking may be a better play. But I am very curious as to their stats though - I'm hoping you have that information to be able to provide a little bit more context.

 

[Collin Moshman]

I like this line.

Checking back river would be fine as we’ll definitely show down the winner sometimes. But we can get plenty of better non-flush hands to fold by betting, and his range is weakened by the river check, so it’s a nice bluffing spot taking advantage of our position.