Firing on All Cylinders: Multi-Street Bluff Puts Top Set in a Tough Spot
6 minutes
Last Updated: October 18, 2024
The action at live cash game tables can quickly get out of control, especially when there is a player who doesn’t give up easily and isn’t afraid to put his chips to work.
A recent hand from Hustler Casino Live features one such scenario, with a player called David stealing the spotlight. David’s game is as far from GTO poker as you can imagine, but his relentless aggression puts his opponent to the test all the time.
The game in question is $100/$200 with a $200 big blind ante, and the effective stack size is just over $190,000.
Preflop Action
The hand begins with Linglin opening the action to $1,000 with 7♥6♠ from the highjack position. Han wakes up with Q♥Q♦ on the button and 3-bets to $3,200.
The small blind folds. David in the big blind looks down at 6♥2♣ and decides to cold call Han’s 3-bet. Linglin calls as well, and the three see the flop with $9,900 in the middle.
Preflop Play Analysis
Linglin’s open with small offsuit connectors is too wide, especially given the game setup, where she can’t expect to just steal the blinds.
That said, she is in a late position and fairly deep ($45,000), and David in the big blind is an action player, so if she hits a favorable flop, she can win a massive pot. So, her open is on the wider side, but nothing out of the ordinary for these games.
With a big hand and in position, Han has an easy 3-bet. Maybe he could use a bigger sizing, but being on the button, he doesn’t mind a caller or two and navigating the hand after the flop.
David has a hand that is the easiest fold in poker – two unsuited and disconnected small cards. In terms of GTO (or even any sensible poker strategy), this is never a call or a raise; it is the purest fold known to men.
He decides to call because he wants to play a hand and that’s about the extent of analysis we can give here. There is usually some other justification you can come up with to explain a play, but I’m coming up blank this time.
Linglin is closing the action and getting great odds, so she makes a fairly standard call to see the flop and try to make a big hand.
Flop Action
The flop comes very favorable for Han, as the dealer spreads Q♣10♣7♠. The other two players check to him, and he fires a continuation bet of $5,000.
David goes ahead and raises to $21,000, which gets rid of Linglin. After a short think, Han makes the call with his top set (and the nuts, for the time being), so the pot grows to $51,900, and they go heads-up to the turn.
Flop Play Analysis
Han hits a great flop as his pocket Queens turn into a top set. It is also a dynamic board that his opponents will often get a piece of, which means he might be able to extract some value.
His half-pot c-bet is fairly standard. Against two players and on a board that can change significantly on the turn, you don’t want to give any cheap cards.
David’s decision to raise is, once again, hard to explain. He whiffed as hard as possible, with no real prospects of improving.
After cold calling from the big blind, this is a board that interacts somewhat with his range (he can have hands like pocket Tens, pocket Sevens, and AQ, some KJ). However, it is more likely that his plan from the get go was to go after the pot on the flop almost regardless of the board texture.
Linglin has only a small piece of the flop, so she naturally gets out of the way. It is back to Han, and knowing David is an aggressive player capable of bluffing with a variety of holdings, he makes the correct decision to call and let his opponent keep barreling.
Turn Action
The turn card is the J♥, making the board Q♣10♣7♠J♥. This card completes a couple of straight draws that David can certainly have.
David continues with the aggression, firing out for $25,000, which is about half the pot. Han calls once again, and the pot balloons to $101,900.
Turn Play Analysis
It is hard to say what the best continuation is for David after taking the aggressive line with six-high and no draw. As far as bluffing cards go, though, a Jack is a pretty good one, as it brings in some straights and two-pair combos.
Perhaps he could go with a bigger sizing if his goal is to put the maximum pressure on his opponent in situations where he only has one pair.
Han no longer has the nuts, but his top set is still a very strong hand. A player like David would always 3-bet AK, so that’s pretty much out of the picture. The other two straights, 89 and K9, are a possibility, but that makes up just a small range of David’s total range.
Calling makes the most sense, of course, as you want your aggressive opponent to keep bluffing. However, the board is getting dicey, and there are many rivers you’re not going to like. So, on the turn, there is definitely a case to be made for raising and making a hand easier.
At this point, Han is likely still ahead, and even when he isn’t, he has a fair number of outs to improve to the full house.
Instead, Han decides to just call and see the river, which is not wrong, but it will often lead to a very difficult decision against a relentless opponent.
River Action
The river is one of the scariest cards in the deck, the 8♣. The final runout is Q♣10♣7♠J♥8♣, completing the clubs' flush draw and putting a one-liner to a straight on the board.
David is aware that this is one of the best bluffing cards in the deck if Han wasn’t on a flush draw himself, so he fires out for $75,000. Han takes a couple of minutes before mucking his hand and relinquishing the pot, and David shows him the bluff.
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River Play Analysis
It is clear that David is intent on winning this hand by brute force, and the 8♣ is just the perfect card to fire big and put your opponent to the test. After the previous two streets, his river bet of $75,000 is justified.
If you’ll turn a hand like 6-2 into a bluff, you can’t be giving up on favorable rivers.
For Han, this is a really strange spot. The board is as scary as it can get for a set, and with him blocking queens, his opponent is likelier to be on the draw. That river completes all the draws there are.
David is an extremely aggressive player, but even with that, it’s really hard to put someone on a pure air. With the action as it stands and without the benefit of seeing the whole cards, it stands to reason that your opponent was betting and raising with something.
While we can’t know for sure, Han’s plan was probably to call off on all non-club rivers, and David got lucky in a way to hit the perfect bluff card. On a different river, he gets snapped off and loses a huge pot with six high, but he gets away with it this time around.