The number of live cash game players that are so totally focused on big hands and big hands only is staggering. They're focused on trying to flop big hands, trying to get big hands paid off, and while that's all well and good, there's a lot of profit to be made while waiting around for big hands to develop.
Today, I want to go through a spot with you and talk about a very, very easy bluff, and one you should be looking to make a lot in your game. Let's get into it.
Setting the Scene: The Hand Breakdown
All right, so this hand was played at the Orange City Poker Room down in Florida, playing $2/$5 with an $800 max buy. We are on the button, playing 7-handed, couple of folds, and raise to 20, which was table standard. I look down at , decide to make the call on the button.
My notes say that the person who opened is a "crypto guy," whatever that might mean to you. And that the, one of the players in the blinds, I have written as, Alabama. Meaning that I thought, hey, if Alabama the state were a person, what would they look like? Who would they be? That's the guy, right there.
Now, I don't want to completely gloss over preflop because calling with Jack-8 suited here is a little bit looser than I would normally suggest. But even if we fire up the GTO Ranges app from RedShift Poker and look at the live RGTO Ranges and say the hijack open raises, what does the app say we should be calling with on the button? Notice, of course, Jack-8 suited is not involved here in the slightest. Only six percent of hands are being called in this situation according to the solver.
But of course, this is assuming a perfectly solved hijack opponent. Everyone's gonna play perfectly from here on forward. The players behind are gonna call and three-bet perfectly as well, and I definitely do not think that's going to be the case in the slightest, especially from the person that I denoted as Alabama.
So I think this is one where I can call and if both the blinds fold fine, if I end up going in a three-way situation, me, Bama, and Crypto, I'm totally fine with that as well. Have position and I think Crypto's gonna play pretty darn straightforward and face up. And of course, there's lots of implied odds that could come from Bama as well. So overall, I'm okay with the call. Though to be fair, this is the kind of call that I'm much more likely to make in position as opposed to out of position, so keep that in mind.
So anyway, we end up making the call, Bama calls, a little bit after that. We end up going three-way to the flop.
Flop Action & Decision Making
Flop is a very interesting monotone . Bama checks. Crypto fires for 15. And I decide to call. So let's talk about this one real quick. So to be very clear here, I'm not calling just because I have top pair. I think some players will try to simplify this call down simply to that, and that's just simply not the case.
I am calling for optionality. I'm calling because I have position. I think both players are going to play this pot very, very face-up for the rest of the way through. And when this person bets $15 into roughly $60 and change on the flop, what is that likely saying? Are they likely very, very happy with their hand, or maybe not so much?
Especially because I know they're paying attention. They see Bama's in the hand. If they had a big hand, wouldn't they start trying to build a pot very, very quickly against them? And I'm inclined to say probably, at least a decent chunk of the time. I don't think they're as focused on balance play against me as they are against maximizing against Bama. So because of that $15 here, getting 5 to 1, I just don't see how I'm not winning often enough on future streets to justify folding here.
Yes, it's a monotone board, not the greatest flop texture in the entire world, but still one where to win this pot plenty enough of the time. And this is really the power of being in position, especially on these kinds of not-so-favorable textures, at least not super favorable for other people.
Alright, so with all that said, I ended up making that call. Bama calls not too long after that.
Turn is the . Bama checks, Crypto checks, and this is the easiest bluff in the entire world for $55.
The Easiest Bluff in the World
So why is this the easiest bluff in the entire world? Obviously, this is much more of a bluff. I'm not betting my top pair here for value, not on such a board texture. This is definitely one where I'm just turning my hand into a bluff and trying to pick the pot up uncontested and really trying to take a nice auto-profitable opportunity.
Now if we look at the break-even percentage of the bet, right, we're betting roughly half pot. So it's a 33% break-even, which means that if both players are folding more often than 33% collectively, meaning both of them are again relinquishing the pot more than 33%, then this is just a snap profitable play. Again, whether I'm betting here with top pair or just any other sort of bluff combination, all is well and good as long as that's the case.
And the biggest thing that I can leave you with, it's extremely, extremely useful, whether it's a heads-up pot or even multi-way pots, is when the board kind of four-straights or four-flushes. Those are usually prime opportunities to take advantage when your opponents seem fairly disinterested, especially when there were weak bets leading up to it. These are usually very, very easy spots you can take advantage of as long as your image is not, like, a complete maniac.
And while you might look at this spot and say, "Well, hold on, isn't Bama fishy? And don't we really not fire bluffs into fish?" And that's totally fair, but this is the kind of situation where there are lots of, kind of, weak hands that Bama could have called with on the flop, especially closing action. So a lot of those just simply are not going to have a . They will not be that interested in continuing. Heck, he might even fold a straight, just given the fact that there are four hearts on the board. It's extremely obvious when the board is monotone like that.
So again, I think there's a decent chunk of folds that will be coming from them. I think that if crypto had a big hand, he's more likely to bet the turn or bet the flop bigger, or a combination of both of those things. So again, he doesn't seem particularly interested in this pot. I'm just going to fight for it. I think this is much, much better than just checking here and what, hoping to fire a river bluff or hoping to hero call or hoping to win it at check down showdown? Like I don't see that happening enough of the time versus just fighting here.
It looks realistic. It looks like you're betting a real hand. I mean, this isn't like a hand, a line that would only be taken with complete air. So because of that, again, I think fire it, you don't have to fire it too, too large. This does not need to be $75 most of the time. If they call $55, might be going for that barrel on the river as well. We'll kind of feel that out, but I think overall this is an extremely easy slam dunk bluff and one that a lot of players just simply miss.
The Result?
Very, very quick folds from both players. Get asked if I have the six of hearts because there's some sort of high hand promo going. I do not. And we end up shipping a nice little medium sized pot. I'm not complaining at all about picking up a little $100 pot for just a little $55 bluff.
Again, this is a very, very easy bet to make and one you should be looking for a tremendous amount in your game. Heads up, multi-way, doesn't matter. Look for spots where the board gets completely locked up and people are going to get really, really tight on their continuance. Take advantage of it, understand those break-even percentages, and just pull those triggers.
