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¨ð River bluffs tend to be more effective when they are all-in, so
you re in a prime bluffing situation when the remaining stacks
are roughly pot-sized.
Three Barrel Bluff Against An Ace
Effective stacks are $200. The 16/13 under the gun player opens for
$7 with Kf&Qe&, and only the TAG big blind calls. The big blind plays
a 21/17 game preflop and hasn t yet seen a showdown at the table.
The flop comes A`&8`&4c& . The big blind checks, the under the gun
player bets $11, and the big blind calls.
The turn is the 9f&. The big blind checks, and the under the gun
player fires a second barrel of $28. The big blind calls.
The river is the 7c& . The big blind checks, and the under the gun
player bets $92. The big blind calls for time and folds after about 30
seconds.
Opening from under the gun with king-queen in a 6-max game is a
fairly standard play. The big blind is tight, so his calling range won t
be too wide given that he ll have to play the hand out of position
against a raise from up front.
The ace-high flop is a good target for a continuation bet, so the
under the gun player bets about three-quarters of the pot. The big
blind calls. He could be calling with an ace, a flush draw, a pocket
BARRELING 91
pair, or even a gutshot. He could also have a set or aces-up. Hands
like 98s or 87s are possible as well.
The turn is an offsuit nine, which is a roughly neutral card for the
player with king-queen. If the big blind has a flush draw or a pocket
pair other than nines, the nine didn t improve him, but it makes two
pair for ace-nine and nine-eight, both hands in the big blind s range.
Given that the big blind is tight and unlikely to have improved on the
turn, under the gun decides to fire a second barrel $28 into the $37
pot.
After the big blind calls this bigger bet, we can put him on a
stronger hand. Most likely he has an ace, probably with a weaker
kicker than a queen since he s been 3-betting frequently preflop and
probably would have done so with ace-king or ace-queen. He could
also have a flush draw or possibly a stronger hand such as aces up or a
set.
The river is the 7c& . This card is good for under the gun because it
doesn t complete the big blind s possible flush draw. Also, it puts a
possible straight on board which might spook the big blind a bit.
When the big blind checks again, we can discount sets and two
pair from his range. With strong hands like that, most players would
have bet or raised at some point by now. They aren t impossible, but
at this point they re unlikely. So the most likely hands for the big
blind are an ace with a non-premium kicker and a missed flush draw.
Since the big blind is tight and doesn t get to showdown often, the
under the gun player tries to push his opponent off a weak ace with a
pot-sized third barrel. Since the big blind called for time before
folding, a non-premium ace is likely exactly what he had.
Trying to push someone off top pair with a big river bet isn t wise
against all opponents. Some opponents are simply too loose. When
you make the bet, they may think to themselves,  I must be beat
again, but eventually they ll call because they  have to see it.
Against these players, consider making a small-sized river bluff like
$20 or $30 into the $93 pot. It may be enough to push your opponent
off a hand such as a small pair plus a flush draw that didn t improve.
Bluffing is not a binary  to bluff or not to bluff decision. You can
make big bluffs, medium bluffs, and small bluffs, and they will fold
92 SMALL STAKES NO-LIMIT HOLD EM
out different ranges of hands. One bluff size can be unprofitable while
another is profitable. Consider all possibilities before acting.
A full-bore 3-barrel bluff like the one executed in this hand can
work well to push tight players off of top pair. If you put your
opponent on a likely top pair due to the action, and you think your
opponent really won t stack off with just top pair, consider launching
a big river bluff.
We have given many examples of firing multiple barrels in this
section. Before we move on, it s time to ground these plays in reality.
We do not recommend firing two or three barrels at every  good
barreling opportunity. If you bluff too much, it becomes obvious, and
opponents will start checking big hands to you and calling down with
weak hands. But if you rarely fire a second or third barrel, your game
has a serious flaw. Multiple barrel bluffs are mandatory in modern
online 6-max $1 $2. Use them wisely, but don t be afraid to fire away
when the situation is right for it. Also, be prepared to lose a few extra
big pots. That is just part of the game.
 Going For Value With Good
Hands
Until now we ve focused mainly on using position and an aggressive
barreling strategy to steal pots. But going for value is just as important
to no-limit success, and most people do it quite poorly. Learning to
value bet correctly will help you in two major ways. First, you will
extract value from hands you might have checked down before.
Second, it will make you harder to read, and therefore your opponents
will be more prone to making mistakes against you on all hands.
The classic value betting error most players make comes on the
river. They check down far too many decent hands. For instance, a
typical player will flop top pair with a strong kicker, bet it on the flop,
bet it on the turn, and then check it down on the river. One major
problem with systematically playing your decent hands this way is
that it severely polarizes your river betting range. We re not saying
you should avoid the bet-bet-check line entirely. It s often a solid line.
But you lose value when you overuse it.
A polarized range is one that includes mainly very strong hands
and very weak hands, but relatively few middle-strength hands. If a
typical player shoves all-in for a pot-sized bet on the river on a
Kf&9`&8f&5c& 3f& board, for example, you can usually assume that the
player holds either a flush or a bluff. Very few players would shove
this river with a hand like KQ or 98, and many players would check
down even KK or 76.
To some extent, everyone bets the river with a polarized range. It
would not often make sense to bet a hand such as A9 on the above
board unless you were trying to force out a better pair, as better hands
will tend to call while worse hands will tend to fold. But the trick to
betting with a polarized range is to keep your frequency of betting
good hands roughly balanced with your bluffing frequency. If these
two frequencies get out of whack, you become exploitable.
94 SMALL STAKES NO-LIMIT HOLD EM
Balancing your value betting and bluffing frequencies doesn t
mean you split them 50 50. According to game theory, if you play
against a near-perfect opponent, the best balance is one such that your
opponent is damned if he calls and damned if he doesn t. If he calls,
he pays off your good hands, and if he folds, you win your bluffs.
Game theoretically speaking, the optimally balanced frequencies
against such an awesome opponent would depend on the pot odds
your opponent is getting to call. If you make a pot-sized bet, for
instance, your opponent is getting 2 to 1 on a call. (Betting $100 into
a $100 pot offers your opponent a chance to win $200 at a risk of
$100.) The optimal frequency (for game theorists) with this bet size
when holding the nuts or nothing is therefore 2 value bets for every 1
bluff, or 67 percent value bets and 33 percent bluffs. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]