Semi-Bluffing Part I by Charlie-Robinson Poortvliet

In this blog I'm going to talk about the power that's semi-bluffing. For those of you who don't know what it is: semi-bluffing is bluffing with a hand that has potential. Most of these hands are drawing hands. Example: You're in the small blind with Jh10h, you call the buttons 3 BB raise and the flop comes 9h 8d 4s (rainbow).  You check-raise his continuation bet, which is half the pot. But you have nothing? Why raise? The three main reasons for this are: 1) Your hand potential 2) Building the pot 3) Creating fold equity.

With an open-ended straight draw, you'll make the nuts when a Q or 7 hits. A Jack or 10 could be good as well, giving you at least 8 outs to the winner  ( 7777 + QQQQ).

When you hit your hand, you want to win the most chips possible. Therefore you raise without hitting it yet.

Given the fact that you're opponent will miss 75 % of the flops, you're raise enables you to win the pot right there. If he does call, you can either hit your hand or semi-bluff the turn. Will go into that later.

So let's say you're playing 3000 chips with blinds at 25/50 and no antes. The button has 3200 and makes it 150 preflop, you call the extra 125 and the big blind folds. This means the pot is 350 and both players have deep stacks. You check the 9h 8d 4s flop, button bets 175 and you decide to raise to 425 leaving you 2400 behind. Most of the times, you'll win the pot right here . But in this case he decides to call, and you're both seeing the turn which is the Kh. At this point, you have to think about his range of hands. Is he strong? Is he floating? Is he weak? Whether he's strong or not, the best play is to lead out.

You're out of position with no hand at this point, but the turn brought you more outs (hearts). So you'll know you'll win with a Q or 7, and most certainly with a heart. It's unlikely that he has a hand like AQhh or Axhh Qxhh. He could have the 67hh, but you're flush will be good in that case. So we're happy with 15 outs (9 hearts, 3 Queens and 3 Sevens) and the odds of that hitting is 30 % on the river. The pot is 1200 (350+850), so in order to check-call he must bet around 400 (30 % of the pot). However if you're the one applying the pressure, by betting 800 for example. He has to release any 8, weak 9, QJ, small pocket pairs... Not only does he have to worry about being beat, he also have to worry about you betting the river. So unless he weak-called AK on the flop or flopped a set or two pair, he'll release.  If you check-call and you miss, you're possible bluff on the river isn't that convincing too. Raising the flop -> betting the turn -> betting the river looks stronger than raising the flop -> check-calling the turn -> shoving the river (remember you're first to act).

The main flaw I see most players make, with semi-bluffing, is that they change their aggression if they hit. They understand the concept, but check when they made their hand. Sometimes it'll induce a bluff, but most times your opponent has a made hand that wants to go to showdown. Example, same hand, same scenario, and the river is the 7c. You made the nuts, now what to do? My advice is to make the same bet when you'll miss the river. If you always fire 3 barrels with a semi-bluff, than do so too with your nuts hand. So opponents cannot read any patterns and will pay you off or fold.

Combining previous factors into semi-bluffing.

Me

Hand:                    2s5s

Position:              Big Blind

Stack:                    9966

Blinds:                   300/600 with an ante of 60

Opponent

Hand:                    ?

Position:              Small Blind

Stack:                    31595

Blinds:                   300/600 with an ante of 60

Action:

SB raises to 1200 and I call. Flop comes 5d Qs 4d, giving me middle pair with backdoor straight and flush draws. SB Leads out  1200 in the 2955 pot, I raise to 2885 and SB calls. Turn is the Js, he checks, I shove for 6481 and he folds.

Thought Process:

Preflop I could easily just folded my hand, but I elected to call because he min-raised and gave me a good price. Flop is quite good for my hand, a middle pair is strong heads up. His continuation bet doesn't tell me anything, so I raised for both information and to take initiative. I'd preferred if he folded, but he called. Turn is the Jack of spades giving me a flush draw along with my pair. After his check I shoved all-in. I do this, because I couldn't give him credit for a strong hand. Would he really flat call the flop with a queen, when there's a possible straight and flush draw on board? I didn't think I had the best hand necessary, but I was confident that he couldn't call a pot bet given my range. He doesn't have the right price to draw and so he has to call with a made hand. He doesn't know I have a weak 5, and even if he called with a better hand I'd have outs. That's the power of semi-bluffing.

Afterword

As you may have noticed, the two situations I described are ones out of position. It's a lot easier to semi-bluff in position as you'll have the option to check behind on the turn, giving you a free card. That way you can control the pot and re-evaluate your hand on the river. I'll write about this next time!

Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions at charliepoortvliet@hotmail.com