Nice Bluff! - Part I

It's the European Poker Tour main event in Prague, an event with a €5,000 buy-in. I have started out playing rather tight and unimaginatively, mainly trying to get a feel for my opponents. I have played just one hand in the previous hour, raising a few limpers from the cutoff with just the 4 3. In that hand, I made a standard continuation-bet on a pure bluff on the flop (and got one caller), and then on the turn, I bet enough to make my lone opponent release. So, inasmuch, as my opponents have no knowledge that I have just been bluffing, have seen me fold all other hands in the past 75 minutes, I am certain that they view me as both tight and nitty.

We are in the second level with the blinds at 50-100 (starting stacks of 10,000) when I pick up A-Q in the big blind. A rather active player has raised from early position to 325, and all other players have folded. Even though I don't like to play this type of hand when out of position against a raise, I decide to call, knowing there's a good chance that I have the best hand.

The flop comes K 5 2. I check, and my opponent quickly bets 450. Knowing that this opponent would automatically bet in this situation with a wide range of hands, I decide to check-raise him to 1,025 - a relatively small raise, designed to represent the king. My opponent quickly calls, looking at me in a rather aggressive manner.

I judge his behavior as a sign of weakness; in all likelihood, he is trying to deter me from making any additional bets. Having said that, given that the board is fairly uncoordinated, and given his preflop raise, he most likely has either a king or a pocket pair smaller than kings. And knowing that this player has a tendency to overvalue hands, I am not so certain that any future bets on my part will make him release any of those hands.

The turn is the 10, and now I bet 2,200. I don't like this card much, as with possible hands like A-J and A-Q (not too likely, given how quickly he called my small check-raise on the flop, but still possible), he could be enticed to get further into this hand. (Of course, against the A-J I would have the current best hand, but I would then still face an unpleasant situation in case of a blank on the river.) So, in order to make him release, I choose to make a solid, no-frills bet, designed to make him lay down 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, J-J, and Q-Q. My opponent takes a bit longer this time, but again fairly quickly calls.

I start cursing at myself for playing the hand the way that I have. Normally, I never call with semi-big cards when out of position; I almost always either reraise or fold. And having flopped nothing, I had gone for a very small check-raise on the flop that actually might have just tied him into the pot. All in all, especially after my turn bet that has been called, I have gotten myself into a big pot in which I am out of position with basically nothing, against someone who doesn't like to fold and who overvalues hands. It was not the best of positions to be in, that's for sure.

The river is the 4, creating both a possible wheel and a backdoor flush. It also means that I have not hit my gutshot-straight draw, and that I have reached the showdown with just an A-Q high, which is 95 percent certain to be no good. So, the question is: Should I bluff, and if so, how much?

Well, I know that this player is often unwilling to play for his entire stack. So, I decide that if I go for the bluff, I should go all in. I started the hand with 10,500 and my opponent started with 10,200, so this would be for all of his money. Also, given his quick call on the flop but the slightly more time he needed on the turn, I am certain that he does not have a flush - and should fear that I could have made one. So, I go for it, and after a long deliberation, my opponent folds the K Q faceup.

Phew! I have gotten away with it. Having made a play that I rarely make, and that goes against most textbooks, I feel lucky that I have now added almost 4,000 to my stack. Had the river not been a third spade, I easily could have lost my entire stack to a player who never should have caused me any kind of trouble. In all honesty, by playing the way that I did, I had risked more than 10,000 early in a tournaments, with the blinds very low, in order to win less than 4,000. That's not the best of plays, to put it mildly.

Having said that, I did adjust my strategy in the proper manner after I got called on the turn. My opponent definitely would have called any bet in the range of 2,000-4,000, and by simply setting him all in, I took advantage of the fact that he could very well "chicken out" if all of his chips were at stake. Also, in this 10-handed game, being in early position, he never should have open-raised with a hand as weak as K-Q offsuit in the first place.

So, in the end, my play could be considered debatable, and I had risked almost everything I had when there was no real need to do so. But probably in part because of my tight image and because I had the courage to put more chips in the pot than I normally would, I was rewarded with a nice pot - and a head start in this prestigious tournament.

Rolf has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at
www.rolfslotboom.com.