I'm noticing more and more in ring games, that i begin to find weaknesses in players games after repeatedly playing them that I can effectivly steal large pots based solely on my read on what he is holding, and not in what I am holding. My case in point stems froma situation that came up quite out of the blue this morning. I was at a .25/.50 NLhe 6 handed game, holding 85.00.

It was fast and furious when a seat opened and a player i had labelled as a fish and numerous times had him pay me off and was sure he was out for some revenge. he bought in for 100 and was seated directly on my right. things were fairly tame until this hand came up, i had stolen 3 pots in a row and the 4th oine he called me down and i showed him top two and he mucked. we are both in MP he raises to 3.00. I'm holding A :icon_suit_club: Q :icon_suit_diamond: and flat call. one other caller and we go to the flop

J :icon_suit_diamond: 9 :icon_suit_heart: 7 :icon_suit_diamond:

BB checks, the "villian" bets out 6. I flat call. BB folds.

**i flat called for a reason and it willl be shown soon.

Turn 9 :icon_suit_diamond:

**i know this is a scare card for him because i know he doesnt have a 9, im leaning towards an AJ or KJ here if not weaker, QJ is even plausible.

he bets out 8 after taking about 12 seconds. I raise it up to 25.00 representing the made flush. I have pulled this on him a lot, and showed hima flush after he had called me down on two occasions, so i knew it was scary for him. He flat called.

River 5 :icon_suit_club:

He bets out 10.00. This honestly screams of weakness and I'm surprised he didnt check it to me and possibly call me down, althouhg I had planned to jam on the river as long as he bet small or checked. I raised all in and he took forever to fold but he did. and I knew he would because he was sick of paying me off. It wont always work, but when it does, it makes all the difference, because following this play he got impatient and jammed with A4 suited when I had KK.

I would never in am illion years have tried attempting this with my hand given it was any other player and I know I may get flamed for not having any business in the pot or playing like a donk, But i stand by my play and think it was a hell of a read.

I think this bluff works because of the board, not because of your read. If he doesn't have at least a flush, he's not callin. Doesn't matter if it's him or Daniel Negreanu.

Uh...okay..so you bluffed one guy out of one hand. Was there a question or something in this post??? Or are you just trying to brag about how you bluffed some donk???

there was no question, i wanted to generate a little discussion about bluffing and picking your spots. I wasn't bragging, i was using an example to further emphasize my point.

you do make a good point about the board, and I do think it is a key factor.

another thing I wanted to touch on is when and how to semi-bluff, I was wondering what some fo your thoughts are on the subject. I suppose this question falls into the value betting as well so I guess i dont have to re-hash a lot of that. One thing that i try not to do is semi bluff, or bet on the draw when i am out of position, or i am not drawing to a nut hand & the implied odds just aren't there.

What i think i was trying to get at is something i heard DN talking about in regards to bluffing, in that it has to be a story, complete with all the key components of any good story. what i dont care for is the random bluffs on the river with no rhyme or reason

You suspected that a calling station was sick of paying you off, so you decided to bluff him.

For whatever reason, he happened to fold this time. If not, you'd have lost your entire stack.

whenever you bluff you are risking losing your stack.

what I wanted to talk about is the bluffing part, not the example i used. I swear this forum makes me laugh pretty hard sometimes. I guess nobody really wants to talk about it because some people are paranoid someone they play will be reading this and use it to exploit them...I don't know.

Your example basically illustrates the importance of position NL. The advantage you have is being able to see the board as his actions before you act. What you did in your example was manipulate your position to steal this pot from him. Your cards are irrelevant and you played the hand great. On that board a lone jack is useless. You have a paired board with a flush out there also and it is almost impossible for someone to call you down with top pair after being raised on 2 streets. This is what distinguishes winning and losing players in NL. It also emphasises the importance of being in position when you play big pots.

Naturally this kind of play works much better and more often against a tight player than a loose 1 who is considered a "fish".

It is a topic worth discussing in great detail as it stems from one's ability to recognise money making oppurtunities against weak players. NL as we know is a game of pressure and the more presure you apply to these "fish" at lower limits the easier they will crack.

Nice hand sir.