A frequently overlooked opportunity for profit occurs when you have a frequent bluffer in your limit hold'em game. Many players miss the chance to exploit his desire to bluff, as they continue to play their normal game. Sometimes you need to distort your game quite a bit to make sure that you get him involved and collect some of that bluffed money.
First, be sure that he is a bluffer. Just seeing someone bluff at a pot does not mean he falls into that category. Actually, there are several signs to look for. One of them is obvious: The player gets called and often does not have a hand. The others include:
• Betting frequency
• Betting patterns
Betting Frequency: If you see a player betting at far more pots than he is mathematically likely to have hit, you may presume that he is a frequent bluffer, even if you never see his hand. Generally, you hit a pair or better one time in three, and of course you also will flop a decent draw once in a while. But even if you flop a pair, frequently it will be something like a pair of sevens on an A-Q-7 board and not really worth betting. If a player is leading at or raising many flops and turns, chances are that he often does not have the values to justify his actions.
Betting Patterns: Likewise, if you see a player who's always betting at "orphan pots," he probably is bluffing at many of them. Orphan pots are those that everyone has checked the flop to the button, or everyone, including the button, has checked the flop and now someone bets on the turn. One player should not have the values to bet at most of these, so if someone is, he is either extremely lucky or simply making a lot of plays.
The hand: In this $30-$60 hold'em hand, I was the small blind with the A
Q
. A loose player limped in from early position, and the player I'll call "Bluffer" called, as well. Everyone folded to the button, a very good player (VGP), who raised. What should I have done?
First, I realized that VGP did not need a premium hand to make this raise. His raise from the button was calculated to give him control of the hand, and make the blinds fold, creating some dead money. Almost all of the hands he would play here are worth a raise against this particular lineup, for those reasons. Of course, he may have had an excellent hand, as well.
I certainly was not going to fold, so my proper move was to reraise, hoping, as VGP did, to take control of the hand and have the big blind, and perhaps the limpers, fold. The big blind and early limper did in fact fold, with Bluffer and VGP calling. This probably meant that VGP did not have a top hand like A-A or K-K, and it said almost nothing about Bluffer's hand.
The flop was 9
6
3
, very arithmetic but no help to me. In spite of that, it probably missed the other two players, as well, so I led out, hoping to win it right there or, more likely, with a bet on the turn if another apparent blank hit. It was no great surprise, however, that with 12 small bets in the pot after my lead, both players called.
The lovely A
came on the turn, making my hand. As always, though, I decided to think about the hand before betting again. Everyone pretty much expected me to have a big ace or big pair for my three-bet from the small blind. I probably could bet and pick up the pot, but it seemed safe to offer a free card. The board was totally dry, with no realistic straight or flush draws.
There was an excellent chance that if I checked now, Bluffer would seize the opportunity to make a play at the pot. Or, perhaps VGP, with a worse ace, would think he had a winner and bet. In any case, it seemed to be very low risk to check here to make some extra bets, and I did.
Bluffer, next to act, reached for some chips, thought better of it, and decided to check. VGP checked, as well. This was disappointing, but not a disaster, as it might gain me a crying call on the river. The river, the 5
, seemed to change nothing. I was tempted to bet and collect my likely crying call, but I remembered Bluffer's near bet on the turn. Surely, he could not resist betting now, into what certainly seemed like an orphan pot, with everyone having checked the turn.
I checked my pair of aces again, and just like clockwork, Bluffer put $60 in the pot. Now, however, VGP raised! What was going on here?
Being a very good player, VGP realized that Bluffer was, in fact, most likely bluffing. He feared that if he just called Bluffer's bet, I might overcall with a hand like pocket tens or jacks. If he raised, I might well throw those away, he reasoned (I suspect), rather than call two bets cold between a bettor and raiser. Unfortunately for VGP, his excellent play had no chance of working, because I had deliberately checked my aces twice, and there was no way that I was throwing my hand away. I called (in case my assumptions of VPG's reasoning were way off, and he happened to have a big hand), and Bluffer tossed his hand away as if it had caught fire.
VGP turned over pocket sevens, and had in fact made an imaginative and well-thought-out play for the pot. He graciously said, "Nice check."
Conclusion: On this hand, I won three big bets by checking my top pair twice, while I would have made no more than two, and probably none, if I simply had bet the turn, and only one if I had bet the river. Yes, I got lucky that the hand played out the way that it did, but I gave myself a chance to get lucky.
When you have a frequent bluffer in your game, it is worth going out of your way to get him involved. Realize that his game is predicated on exploiting opponents' weakness, and if you show strength, he normally will go away. Give him a chance to take advantage of your seeming weakness when in fact you are strong, and you will reap the benefits of stacking his chips in front of you.
Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy, and offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please visit his website at www.barrytanenbaum.com.
