Card Player Pro

Game: $100 buy-in, 50¢-$1 no-limit hold’em cash game
Opponent: Unknown player in the small blind
Stacks: Mine: $102.45; His: $105.65
My Cards: J 10
My Position: Button

One piece of advice that amateur players often overlook when playing is: “If you’re gonna go to war, you’d better bring some ammo!” And while I’m not recommending that you go to your next poker game and start flinging your chips left and right, you should be aware that if you do start a big bluff, you’d better be prepared to follow through.

In this column, I’m going to review a triple-barrel bluff that I ran, and show that, in certain spots, it is necessary to have a three-barrel bluff in your arsenal.

In a 50¢-$1 blinds, $100 buy-in six-max cash game on PokerStars, I raised to $3 with the J 10 from the button. The small blind called, and the big blind folded. We took a flop heads up.

With the current aggressive state of online cash games, I expect most players in the small blind’s shoes to reraise their value hands preflop. So, when he just calls my raise, I’m already beginning to define his hand. I think it’s safe to assume that he doesn’t have a big pair (J-J+), and probably doesn’t have A-Q or A-K. This leaves most of his range as middle-pair hands (6-6, 7-7, and so on), big-card hands (A-10 offsuit, A-8 suited, K-J, and so on), and drawing hands (Q-J suited, 8-7 suited, and so on).

The flop came down Q 5 2. My opponent checked, and I made a continuation-bet of $4 into a $7 pot.

As the preflop raiser, this is a good board for me to continuation-bet. One high card and two low cards on the flop are unlikely to have hit a small blind’s hand range. He might fold a small pair (3-3, 4-4) or some big-card hands that are ahead of me (A-10, K-J). He’ll also fold drawing hands that missed the board completely (8-7 suited, J-9 suited). Overall, I expect him to fold more than 40 percent of the time, making my first bet profitable.

Be aware, though, that I’m not betting just because I think he’ll fold this flop and I’ll win the pot. I also need a plan for the rest of the hand if he calls.

My opponent called the $4 bet, and we saw the turn.

The turn brought the 6.

This is an interesting card. It adds straight draws to the board, as well as a flush draw. While it may not appear to be a scare card to most players, it is “deceptively” scary, in that it sets up a lot of potentially scary river situations for our opponent.

Many players in our opponent’s shoes will look at the 6 and say, “Good, it’s not a facecard,” and continue to call us with 7-7, 8-8, and even A-5 if they don’t believe us. But this allows us to put more pressure on our opponent on the river.

Should the river bring a heart, 3, 4, or ace, our opponent is going to have a very difficult time calling a big bet with one pair.

I decided to fire a second barrel, and bet $10 into a pot of $15.

My opponent hesitated for a bit, but called the $10 bet.

The river was the 2, and my opponent checked.

The 2 is one of the best rivers in the deck for me to fire a third barrel. The possible flush adds a legitimate threat to his Q-X hands, and in his mind, there’s still a chance that I’m betting a better one-pair hand than his for value.

Even if he has a hand as strong as Q-J, he has to be worried that after firing three bets, I could have any of the following hands: K-Q, A-Q, 2-2, 5-5, 6-6, Q-Q, K-K, A-A, or a flush. This is a spot where we can credibly represent many hands that have our opponent beat, and he’ll be hard-pressed to call us with a one-pair holding.

I bet $26 into a pot of $35, and my opponent tanked for 10-15 seconds before folding.

In spots where you can represent a variety of big hands and don’t expect your opponent to be able to call you down weakly — strongly consider packing an extra bullet in your poker arsenal and pulling the trigger with a big river bet.

To watch Andrew Arnott comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/Ama-4.