This is the first time in weeks that I've tried something like this. I've been really disciplined of late.


Ok, a little background in terms of reads. This was from datamining, and it's a $500 pot at 25c/50c where villain was the BB:

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $40.90
CO: $49.50
Button: $334
SB: $34.40
BB: $250.15

Pre-flop: (5 players)
2 folds, Button raises to $1.75, SB folds, BB raises to $5.5, Button raises to $18.5, BB calls.

Flop: 5 5 T ($37.25, 2 players)
BB checks, Button bets $33.75, BB raises to $135, Button raises all-in $317.25, BB calls all-in $98.4.
Uncalled bets: $83.85 returned to Button.

Turn: T ($504.05, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $504.05)


River: A ($504.05, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $504.05)


Results:
Final pot: $504.05
Button showed Ah 4h Qh Ac
BB showed 5d 8s 9c 3h


He makes plays like this all the time, although I didn't have this strong a read yet.

He plays 80/23 and I just figured he was a real LAG donk. Onto the hand in question:


Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $44.75
UTG+1: $159.40
CO: $61
Button: $200.40
SB: $130.70
Hero: $61.75

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with 2 Q K 5
3 folds, Button raises to $1.75, SB folds, Hero calls $1.25 (pot was $2.5).

Ok, against someone playing this LAG and bad, the preflop call is mandatory IMO.

Flop: 9 A 5 ($3.75, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.75, Hero raises to $11, Button calls.

I think this is a great flop to c/r. It's really dry, and it should be difficult for him to call without at least 2 pair.

Turn: 6 ($25.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $25.75, Button calls.

Ok, well, it didn't work. However, 678x just hit, and if he's called the flop with one pair (AKQJ or whatever) he can't call again. I figured I should keep up the aggression having turned the flush draw to go with the pair. I'm being objectively honest when I say I am very rarely bluffing here. I almost always check/fold the flop OOP unless I have it, and I'm usually check/folding after getting called on the flop.

I'll point out that he *never* smooth calls here with a straight. I still thought that a stubborn aces up was most likely.

River: 8 ($77.25, 2 players)
Hero is all-in $23.25, Button calls.

Given that I'm almost certain he didn't turn the straight this is a good card to fire the final bullet on. Aces up by this point are useless even getting 4:1.

Results:
Final pot: $123.75
Hero showed
Button showed


I honestly can't figure out his thought process with this hand.


I haven't pulled a 3-barrel bluff in weeks, and I thought this was a reasonable place to do it. Needless to say, I have some notes on him now.


Comments anyone? Flames? Condolences?

This is probably the strangest hand I've played in 6 months.

3 barrel bluffs are fun to run, and even more fun when they work. This guy appears to be a huge calling station though. I might pick other players to try a 3ball against.

You are trying to bluff a player who is loose, aggressive and can't lay down a hand. Think about that for a second.

lol - I know what you're saying. I didn't know he was willing to call so light.

All I knew really was that he was up about $400 in about 400 hands at $50pl, and that he was sat with $200 at this table. I didn't expect him to fold two pair here, but I figured any single pair had to fold. If he has KKQJ he's almost certainly folding the flop, and if he isn't he's folding the turn. The same goes for a massive part of his range. IMO of course.

1) Pair and a gutshot yo!
2) I improved! I call.
3) Straight. Hooray!

Also, if you "haven't pulled a 3-barrel bluff in weeks", an 80/23's not exactly the best person to try it against. I 3-barrel all the time, so I don't have to be so discerning, but I guarantee there will be at least 5 better spots than this one in a typical session.

And while this advice doesn't necessarily apply in this situation, one thing I've kinda noticed about your game is that you tend to have the "check/raise or check/fold" imprinted pretty strong like it's LHE or something, but there are a lot of times where you can just lead. In 3-way spots especially, I'll lead all kinds of crap that vaguely hit the board that I'd fold to a bet or lead air into dry boards until people start to catch on, and then I'll lead top set a couple times and get someone to stack off light. It's really a good technique to keep the typical low-stakes passive players off-balance.

I rarely fire 3 barrels with nothing. Here was just a case where I thought the flop was prime for checkraising. I probably checkraise any ace, draw or set against him there.

I do lead a lot of flops, but usually HU without the betting lead I'll checkraise rather than lead against aggro players who will c/bet most, if not all, of the time.

I find that if I lead in these situations I'll get called by a huge range and I'm still blind on the turn. By checkraising I have a lot more fold equity over marginal hands that would call a flop bet, and I win more against those hands.

Also, I admittedly do love checkraising far too much. I used to check too many multiway flops with sets and have it checked round. I have improved a lot in that respect.

Can you show some examples of where you've 3-barrel bluffed? Other than c/betting, picking up a draw on the turn and missing, I can't think of many other times I will get that far without a hand.

OK, I guess "all the time" might be a little bit of an exaggeration. Looking over my non-showdown hands, I found a few though:

1) Repping aces hard against a likely draw.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $2 BB (2 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

Hero ($945.65)
Button ($339.30)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 6 , 5 , 8 , 7 .
Button raises to $6, Hero raises to $18, Button calls $12.

Flop: ($36) 2 , A , 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $35.5, Button calls $35.50.

Turn: ($107) T (2 players)
Hero bets $106.5, Button calls $106.50.

River: ($320) K (2 players)
Hero bets $180, Button folds.

Final Pot: $320



2. General recognition of weakness on a missed semi-bluff.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $2 BB (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

BB ($120)
Hero ($654.65)
MP ($309.35)
CO ($206.20)
Button ($137.35)
SB ($303.30)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with T , 5 , 6 , 4 .
Hero calls $2, 1 fold, CO raises to $9, 1 fold, SB calls $8, 1 fold, Hero calls $7.

Flop: ($29) 3 , 3 , 2 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $18, CO folds, SB calls $18.

Turn: ($65) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $42, SB calls $42.

River: ($149) Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $146, SB folds.

Final Pot: $149



3. Blockers

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $2 BB (4 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

UTG ($235.05)
Hero ($301.95)
SB ($60.85)
BB ($120)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 2 , J , J , 4 .
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, BB calls $5.

Flop: ($15) Q , 4 , K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $14.25, BB calls $14.25.

Turn: ($43.50) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $41.5, BB calls $41.50.

River: ($126.50) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $58, BB folds.

Final Pot: $126.50

Yeah, these are the only hands I've 3 barrelled with that weren't value bets on the river (btw, PokerEV is just awesome for finding them):

Stack sizes:
UTG: $64.60
CO: $23.90
Button: $28.90
Hero: $100.15
BB: $20.80

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with 7 8 2 3
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.5, BB calls.

Flop: 4 6 9 ($3, 2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB calls.

Turn: 6 ($9, 2 players)
Hero bets $8, BB calls.

River: 9 ($25, 2 players)
Hero bets $8, BB folds.


Stack sizes:
UTG: $8.45
CO: $18.75
Hero: $115.10
SB: $76.30
BB: $48.30

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with 9 T 8 6
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: 5 7 K ($4, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB calls.

Turn: 3 ($12, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $12, SB calls.

River: 2 ($36, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $16, SB folds.
Uncalled bets: $16 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $36

+ the one at the top. To be fair though, this is only my last 5k hands (which is actually all hands since the start of November due to my damned internet connection problems).