Recently pulled one of the more memorable limit bluffs in my career. Before getting into it, let's revive the most famous bluff of the millenium at the 2003 Main Event WSOP.
On a board of: FLOP (9s 6s 2d) TURN (8s) RIVER (3h)
Chris Moneymaker holds: Ks 7h
Sam Farha holds: Qs 9h
After a Moneymaker preflop raise of 100K, both players check the flop. On the turn, Farha fires out a bet of 300K and Moneymaker raises to 800K. Farha calls. On the river, Moneymaker moves all in and Farha goes into the tank.
"You missed your flush?" he asks Moneymaker. Moneymaker stays mum, hiding behind his rainbow Oakley shades. Unable to make the hero call on poker's grandest stage, Farha tosses his hand in the muck. Less than an hour later, Moneymaker hoists the gold bracelet.
Even the casual poker player knows this story. But let's play a little role reversal and replay the hand as a limit hold'em hand. It's conceivable that Moneymaker raises Farha's turn bet with one overcard and the king of spades, correct?When we reach the river card, a 3h which represents an obvious blank, what are the odds that Farha is laying down top pair here to one measly limit bet? Zilch, zero, and nada. Farha is likely fitting himself for the main event bracelet and the Moneymaker poker boom ceases to exist.
This brings us back to bluffing in limit hold'em, a rarely discussed topic because, well, you can't bluff in limit, right?
A quick fact sheet:
a- 90% of limit bluffs fail.
b- Limit bluffing is often associated with angle shooting bastards.
c- It's impossible to bluff in a limit game below 10-20 stakes.
d- You will invariably lose your roll if you bluff often in limit.
The main reason why people felt themselves bluffing at the limit table is because they fail to think two or three streets ahead. If you're going to bluff in position on a player you think is weak, start by popping them pre-flop and fire every street. Don't back down on a street that creates a scary board. If you don't have the stones to fire every street, then limit bluffing is not for you.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule. The best advice is to avoid bluffing in limit period, especially at small stakes games where players will call for the sake of looking you up regardless if they have a pair or even ace-high. I'm not saying bluff check raising a rock when the flush draw hits will never work. But in my experience you will get your hand caught in the cookie jar 90% of the time unless you're playing high stakes.
Enough delay; onto the hand:
Commerce Casino
4-8 Limit nine-handed. Typical 4-8 limit game, passive-weak showdown poker.
Hero: Seat seven
Two limpers, I look down at Qc-Jc. I decide to raise to take control of the pot (any preflop raise constitutes an automatic check to you on the flop at this table) and because the second limper is tilting off the table after having three two-pairs cracked in the last two orbits. Action after me is folded to the SB (probably the only other solid player at the table) who calls. The BB also calls.
After the first limper (seat four) calls, the tilting villain re-raises to make it three bets. In the twisted world of limit poker, a limp re-raise usually means one of three things:
a- player limps with big hand (high PP or A-Ks) in early position with the intention of three-betting any raises after him.
b- a severely short stacked player wants to put the rest of his chips in the pot since he now has the odds to call any raise with the opportunity to quadruple or quintuple up. I often see players in this situation put in the three-bet with small PPs (deuces, sixes, etc.) hoping the original raiser caps action to increase their pot odds.
c- a tilting fish simply wants to play a big pot and get lucky regardless of what his hand is.
I make the quick deduction that the villain is indeed our classic tilting fish and cap the betting with a final raise. Much to my delight, both the SB and BB fold to the additional raises (this rarely happens in limit) while both limpers call.
Flop - 10d 9s 3h
I think this is a great flop for me because it gives me the opportunity to keep applying pressure with a semi-bluff. A rainbow board with the open-ender gives me eight outs to the nuts, and I feel comfortable with my two overcard pair outs also.
The first limper checks and our tilting villain bets into me. I immediately raise, and the limper hesitates before calling. He is an average player, and one hand which stands out in my mind is where he thought for a minute (an eternity in limit time) before making a crying call when I had flopped top two pair and rivered a boat. So my table image to him is favorable at this point. The tilting villain three-bets and I'm still not a believer so I re-raise to cap the action.
Turn - 3s
Not the best card for me. If the board pairs again on the river, either player is inclined to call me with K or A high based on the sheer size of the pot. Regardless, I tell myself if the tilting villain checks to me again I am firing another bullet. If he bets into me again, I have to give him credit for at minimum a pair and I'll slow down. Check, check, and for a nanosecond, doubt creeps into my mind: "maybe I should check here, I still have a lot of outs..."
Then BOOM, I snap out of it and fire again. Both players call.
River- 6s
So I completely whiff. The backdoor flush got there, but based on the hesitation of both players calls on the turn I doubt anyone has it. They both check and I fire my last bullet. Seat four, pauses and in sheer consternation looks at the tilting villain to see if he's going to call. I highly suspect he has the best hand between the three of us here, at minimum a pair of fours. He looks at me and I'm hoping he's replaying my full house hand in his brain. Finally, he mucks.
"I got a full house." I tell the tilting villain, smiling.
Refer to number b in the syllabus on limit bluffing: it is often associated with angle shooting bastards. Am I bastard? In this instance, kinda. But I've masterfully pulled off this bluff to this point and if I can get an edge with some table talk here, I'm going to take it.
"Full house?" He asks, incredulous.
He takes a deep breath and mucks. A pot of nearly $200 is pushed my way.
Gimme those!
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