The Semi-Bluff - BurnleyMik

The Semi Bluff – My interpretation.

A semi bluff is a bet that is made when you don’t really want a call, but if you do you still have outs to draw to the best hand.

So let’s have an example….

You get dealt 9sTs on the button. One player before you raises and you call with position. The two of you go to a flop. The flop is:

FLOP: 7s8sAd

Here you have an open ended straight draw and also a flush draw, basically a very strong hand. If your opponent checks it to you then you can make a bet at this pot and this bet is known as the Semi-Bluff. The semi bluff can also have the advantage of disguising the strength of your hand too. Let’s say you lead at the pot here for a ¾ pot bet. A lot of the time you take the pot there and then, but if for some reason your opponent calls, you still have a lot of outs that could help you improve to the best hand, but also if you do hit your hand it can be difficult for your opponent to put you on a made hand!

The semi-bluff is a very powerful move on any Poker player’s Arsenal. Use it well and make it pay!!! Good Luck!

The “Stopper Bet” - By Kennl

This is a little thing called the ‘Stopper bet’, how to use it and how not to use it.

So what’s this you say? – This is something which I am finding I’m coming up against more and more all the time. This is a hand from the $20R on FTP:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5782635565: $10,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) (43308999), Table
13 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold’em - 20:55:14 ET - 2008/03/25
Seat 1: kennl (21,250)
Seat 2: MrGotti1 (1,905), is sitting out
Seat 3: CompleteDonk (9,330)
Seat 4: Cougar76 (15,550)
Seat 5: sonofhud12119 (12,020)
Seat 6: jagtalon (5,845)
Cougar76 posts the small blind of 60
sonofhud12119 posts the big blind of 120
the button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kennl [9s 7s]
jagtalon folds
kennl raises to 295
MrGotti1 folds
CompleteDonk folds
Cougar76 folds
sonofhud12119 calls 175
*** FLOP *** [4s 5h Qd]
sonofhud12119 bets 120
kennl raises to 595
sonofhud12119 folds
Uncalled bet of 475 returned to kennl
kennl mucks
kennl wins the pot (890)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 890 | Rake 0
Board: [4s 5h Qd]
Seat 1: kennl collected (890), mucked
Seat 2: MrGotti1 didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 3: CompleteDonk (button) didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 4: Cougar76 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: sonofhud12119 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: jagtalon didn’t bet (folded)

Seems pretty simple and straight forward doesn’t it? However, as most of you know, knowing you should raise and actually raising are 2 completely different things in NLHE. Me personally, I absolutely love playing against this kind of bet as I feel it’s so transparent.

So, this game is 6 handed, which is a lot more active (I do prefer it) and I have been extremely active so far. A couple of others were watching me while playing and I was getting lots abuse from some friends as they thought I was taking the Mickey ,literally! So anyways, basically I am explaining I have a loose image.

Back to the hand - I come in for my standard raise and BB defends as most were doing that night. Flop is not good for me but at the same time there’s no Ace so if he was defending with a weak Ace he hasn’t hit it.

Now he decides to fire out what I call the ’stopper’, but he gets it completely wrong IMO (In My Opinion) – if your going to employ this tactic, which I do at times and in fact its a “cheaper” way sometimes of finding out where you are in the hand, then you have to make it look like you ARE actually defending something. I mean there are 650 in the pot and he is firing 120 – What the hell is that!! Make it expensive for me to carry on while not putting yourself out on a limb, that’s what I always thought the ’stopper’ was for.

If he makes his bet something in the range of 375-475 then its not so easy for me to go OTT (over the top) is it?? As it means that if I want to ask him the question again, but know I can’t price him in, then I have to raise it to at least like 1475+ which is not that easy to do.

Now, you can see I got complete air here but his bet screams weakness and therefore you can exploit it.

Of course if he know comes back OTT then you’re clearly behind and 95% of the time you have got to dump it, unless your playing a really good player who you can shove on and will fold top pair etc, however this is generally not happening at this level of buy-in.

All this said, some will ask the question why risk so much for so little return and here is my thoughts: Firstly if there’s any chips lying about which need a home from a weaker player I’m more than willing to help them out!! :-). Secondly its all about long term, i.e. metagame – if I only re-raise with my good hands I become pretty easy to play, however if I’m caught with my fingers in the cookie jar occasionally I don’t mind to much (as long as I haven’t bled to many chips) as this creates action for the time I flop top 2 or a set etc. In the end it’s those hands that I want the big action on.

Another example but this time I got half a hand – although if he pushes here I fold so quickly.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5782840821: $10,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) (43308999), Table
9 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold’em - 21:11:11 ET - 2008/03/25
Seat 2: caasikilam (4,825)
Seat 3: kennl (29,490)
Seat 4: Fialho72 (2,200)
Seat 5: Binkii (6,155)
Seat 6: YH Time (9,405)
caasikilam posts the small blind of 80
kennl posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kennl [Ad Ts]
Fialho72 folds
Binkii folds
YH Time folds
caasikilam calls 80
kennl raises to 675
caasikilam calls 515
*** FLOP *** [4h Qh Ac]
caasikilam bets 160
kennl raises to 1,830
caasikilam folds
Uncalled bet of 1,670 returned to kennl
kennl mucks
kennl wins the pot (1,670)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,670 | Rake 0
Board: [4h Qh Ac]
Seat 2: caasikilam (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: kennl (big blind) collected (1,670), mucked
Seat 4: Fialho72 didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 5: Binkii didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 6: YH Time (button) didn’t bet (folded)

Once again you can see how weak his bet looks, which to me, doesn’t make any sense at all.

So why employ this sort of bet in your arsenal? Well firstly I use it as it’s a very cheap way of finding out if your opponent has a hand.

Let’s take the following example:

Hand 1:- In a MTT you’re in the BB with 89dd. A MP player makes it 120 to go with blinds at 15/30 and you are both playing 3k stacks. You defend, out of position, with the mighty suited connector. The flop comes 23J, missing you by a mile, but so far in the pot is: 120 + 120 +15 = 255 chips. You can feel pretty comfortable that your opponent has missed this flop, however so have you, so why not fire out 185-195 into the pot to find out where you are at? If your opponent comes OTT and you fold, all you lose is your 185 chips.

Now, let’s look at the check-raise for the same hand. You check and your opponent bets 215 into the pot. You raise and make it 575 to go, in total. He dwells and jams OTT – your investment in the pot is now 575 chips and on top of the pre-flop action, a massive loss compared to 1st hand.

So can you see that in the first instance you lose 185 chips and in the 2nd you lost 575 chips – This is why the stopper is much cheaper and easier to play.

All this said, I don’t suggest using this too often as someone who is paying attention will quickly pick up what you’re doing and then it becomes easy for them to counter-act your bet.

Lastly, and this is the latest in my limited arsenal, the bet that looks like a stopper but in fact is a disguised monster. Now a firm favourite of mine!

Example 1: You’re holding 10 10 with the same action as the above hand. Pre-flop you flat call the MP’s raise to 120 and flop comes Q102. You lead for 185. Sometimes your opponent folds and you take down the pot there and then.

Example 2: Exactly the same, but after your 185 bet at the J high flop, your opponent decides to re-raise with his AJ and makes it 575….. lovely… how to play it now?? well that’s for another discussion, however your weakish lead has now increased the size of the pot and lets face it, if you check your set he makes it 185 to go and then you min re-raise he likely folds (so you get an extra 185 – big deal!). However, in example 2 where you get a stubborn opponent or someone who hit his Q your going to get his chips pretty quickly as you have increased the size of the pot by leading out.

A good thing to remember for metagame is when you do flop a set, or 2 pair and get action and you have led out, people remember that and now you can use this stopper bet with much more frequency as immediately they are thinking – remember this guy leads out with a set!

At the same time if you have used the ’stopper’ and it doesn’t work, lets say you get flat called, what do you do then? Well, this is where it gets real tricky, as in position I will sometimes call with absolutely nothing with the intention of slowing my opponent down so that I can take it away from him on the turn or river. Don’t use to many chips being to clever – you can only use this if firstly you have chips and secondly if you feel really strongly that another bet on the turn or river is going to lead to a fold (I have bled chips like this so
often in the past), so be careful if you meet with any kind of resistance.

Next discussion – maximise your big hands – don’t play scared play to double up!