Card Player Pro

For this column, I decided to find a hand that I played in a completely bizarre and unconventional manner. On the river, I both bet as a bluff and called for value. Didn't think that was possible? Well, do not worry, I am not sure it is, either - as I was beat.

Game	Four-handed $10-$20 no-limit hold'em on PokerStars
Opponent	A $10-$20 regular in the small blind
Stacks	$2,600 (me) vs. $2,600
My Cards	7 6
My Position	Button

I was playing four-handed $10-$20 no-limit hold'em on PokerStars, when I raised from the button to $60 with the 7 6. The small blind, with a similar stack to mine of around $2,600, reraised to $220. He was a regular in these games, and frequently reraised players in late position, as he should. With stacks at around 130 big blinds, I decided to take a flop with my suited connectors. The flop came down Q 6 3. My opponent bet $280, as I would expect him to do with a majority of his range, either for value or as a bluff. I called, with middle pair having a decent chance of being the best hand, as well as with two backdoor possibilities. The turn was the J. My opponent checked, and I checked behind, figuring to have a lot of showdown value with my pair of sixes here.

The river card was the 10. Before my opponent did anything, I thought that he would be fairly likely to have a lot of marginal showdown hands, such as A-J, A-10, K-10, or any similar hands. With these hands, he would likely check and hope that I checked behind, but if I bet, he would possibly fold them. There was of course the chance that he had a monster, such as Q-Q, J-J, or A-K, or even just total air.

He checked, and I decided that I should try to bluff at the pot, hoping to get him off a pocket pair lower than 10-10, or any sort of second or third pair. I bet $720 into the pot of $1,020. After some thought, my opponent moved all in for more than $2,100. Surely, I had to fold now, as I had only fourth pair and my opponent check-raised all in. Any queen, jack, 10, pocket pair higher than sixes, K-9, 9-8, or A-K beat me! There was no way that I had the best hand.

But wait, I thought. Think about it from his perspective; I cannot have a big hand. He knows there is pretty much only one way that I can have two pair (I checked back the turn, so that rules out Q-J; Q-10 is possible). If he checked the river with A-2 suited, for example, and I made that river bet, as a thinking player, he would surely realize the bluffing opportunity he had. How could I even call, though; from a combination point of view, there were so few hands that I beat that would reraise preflop. I started counting up the possible hands; A-2 suited to A-9 suited, maybe suited kings, and maybe other suited connectors. With all the possible bluffing hands, I decided to try to make the greatest call of my life. I clicked the call button! I knew it, he didn't have a straight! Unfortunately for me, he had three queens. Oops, I thought to myself, I sure over-thought that one.

While this hand was really a collection of bad assumptions and mistakes, it still opened my mind up to possible future situations. There actually can be a spot in which you bet as a bluff, and your opponent will have a stronger range when he calls you than when he raises. This assumes that anytime he calls, he obviously has a hand of reasonable strength, and anytime he shoves, he can have either a bluff or the nuts, and if it is skewed enough toward bluffs, it can possibly warrant a heroic call. It probably will happen exceptionally rarely, but the possibility exists.

To watch Dani Stern comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/ansky-8.