Bluffing the Bluffers

How do you handle a bluffer? In general, if you have something, you call; if you don't, you raise. Of course, this is easier to write than it is to do, because other considerations often get in the way. For example, there might be other people in the pot.

Let's look at two hands in which someone is bluffing. In both, you also are bluffing, and there are others in the pot.

I was involved in this hand, and I need to give you some background. I was in seat No. 3 in a Bellagio $30-$60 game. In seat No. 5 was a guy I had never played with before (I don't know his name, but let's call him "Reed"), and I had decided he was a frequent bluffer. I made this determination by observing that Reed frequently bet in what appeared to be bluffing situations. He was never called, so I could not totally validate my suspicions, but I was pretty certain he was a serial bluffer, and inasmuch as he was not getting called, he was getting bolder and bolder.

I suppose you are wondering what a "bluffing situation" is. Many times a hand will arise, typically in an unraised multiway pot, in which everyone checks the flop. When the turn brings an innocuous card, it is a fairly good assumption that nobody has much of anything. Frequently, a bet here will win it, and the idea is to be the first one in with a bet.

So, anyway, Reed always seemed to bet in this situation. If I could raise him, I would have him. But complicating matters was a guy in seat No. 8, whom I will call "Grey." Grey was a most unusual player. He saw almost every flop, and called to the river more than half the time. On the river, however, he almost always seemed to fold. The only conclusion I could draw was that Grey was playing long shots that did not get there, or he underestimated the strength needed to call. I dubbed Grey "The Folding Station."

I finally decided to ignore him and just play Reed. A few minutes after making that decision, I held the K 10 in the big blind, and got a free play after Reed, another player, Grey (of course), and the small blind all limped in. We saw a flop of A 6 3, and everyone checked. The turn was the 2. Typically, I would bluff at this pot, but I wanted to pick up the expected bet from Reed. Sure enough, we all checked to Reed, who bet. Grey was the only caller back to me, and I check-raised. Reed released his hand as if it had suddenly been set on fire, but Grey called. The river was the K, which at least gave me a pair but might have made a flush, or who knows what else, for Grey.

I bet anyway and Grey, as he always seemed to do, folded. So, my check-raise bluff won me some extra big bets, and solidified my opinion of Reed. I could never have made this play if Grey were a calling station on the end, or even a normal player. It is important to take every player's characteristics into account when making this sort of play.

This is a complex hand, so prepare for a bumpy ride. The hero of this hand is my good friend Terri, who was playing in a very loose $40-$80 game at Commerce Casino.

It was typical of this game for many players to see the flop, and for one or more of them to make a play for it after the flop. Therefore, on this hand, Terri was surprised when everyone checked the flop.

She held the J 9 in late position and had called three other limpers. The flop was K 10 6, which gave her a gutshot-straight draw. After everyone checked, including the aggressive player on the button, the turn brought the K. Surprisingly, everyone checked to the button again. Terri did not bet because she believed any bet here would clearly look like a bluff. After all, if she had a king, she would have bet the flop from late position, and even if she held a 10, she probably would have tried a bet to possibly win it or eliminate various gutshot-straight draws that are frequently present when two Broadway cards appear on the flop.

When the button bet behind her, she immediately read it for a bluff. While no one can be inside someone else's head, Terri thought there was no hand the button could have legitimately held that he would check the flop and bet the turn. In spite of the fact that she held nothing but a gutshot herself, she decided to raise and try to win it right there.

Complicating things slightly was a call from the under-the-gun player, but she followed through with her plan and raised. When the button folded, it validated her read, and she was silently congratulating herself when the early-position player reraised!

About a year ago, I wrote about call-reraise plays (Card Player, Vol. 16/No. 14, "Two Call-Reraises in One Hand"), noting that they typically are very dangerous. But Terri was very suspicious about this one. Again, it was very hard to figure out what the early-position player could have been holding. Some of you are thinking pocket sixes, I would guess. But she knew this player to be very aggressive, and was sure he would have bet pocket sixes on the flop. He would have expected action with the king and 10 on board, and would have been protecting himself from the possible gutshot-straight draws we discussed earlier.

She also decided that he did not have a king or 10. While there was some chance that this aggressive player would check the flop with either hand, he certainly would have led on the turn rather than risk both the flush and the straight draw.

In fact, she decided that (bear with me here) the early-position player had diagnosed that she had raised because she believed the button was bluffing. Basically, he thought (correctly) that she was bluffing when she raised the button, and he was trying a bluff-raise of his own.

How should she have played the hand? She decided to call what she thought was the bluff call-reraise, intending to raise the river regardless of what card came. Yes, this takes a great deal of self-confidence and nerves of steel, but that is what she elected to do.

The river produced the 3, putting the possible flush on the board. Was the early-position player semibluff-reraising with a flush draw? She decided that if he had made a flush draw on the turn, he would have bet out instead of checking, hoping to either win it right there or make the flush. He would not have turned down such a fine bluffing opportunity.

So, when the early-position player bet, she raised with her jack high. He obligingly folded, and she won a very nice pot for her efforts. After the hand, she could not resist showing her bluff. I do not like this and never recommend it, but not everyone agrees with me. The early-position player retrieved his hand, which was 8-7 offsuit. He had flopped a gutshot-straight draw himself, and when he thought she was re-bluffing the button, he tried bluffing her. She got the last bluff in, however, and won a very nice pot. Interestingly, she was also bluffing with the best hand.

Conclusion: Many people think bluffing simply means leading at a flop, turn, or river when you have nothing, hoping everyone folds. As we have seen in these examples, sometimes the best bluffing opportunities come when you can determine that the other guy is probably bluffing, and you can take the pot away. Clearly, this requires great reading skills, confidence in your reads, and the gumption to put several bets into the pot when you have nothing but believe the other guy will fold.

Having more than two players in the pot makes these reads and plays more treacherous, but more profitable, as well. Of course, it also means you have to be able to read the other players in the hand as well as you can the bluffer you are focused on. Be on the lookout for these rare situations and you may find just the right time to bluff a bluffer.