When the bluffing situation presents itself, do it!

[BKrywko1]

Or, alternately, "BK's Play of the Day"

The last few nights I've been running about a 75% success rate in the $2+rebuy Turbo WSOP satellites - dodge some landmines and build up a nice stack, and these wins just play themselves out (about 45 of us out of 300 won 33 W$ - great way to build up satellite buy-ins...plus you can sell them for cash, if you choose).

Anyways, there comes a time when a good bluff (or semi-bluff, as I suspect this may have turned out to be) can really get you going - as the cliche goes, sometimes you have to be willing to die (well...or be severly short-stacked) in order to live in this game

pokerstars Game #5335511592: Tournament #26495945, $2+$0 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/06/22 - 22:13:40 (ET)
Table '26495945 23' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Papasmurf232 (9940 in chips)
Seat 2: USSSmiley (3575 in chips)
Seat 3: CDThMan (13055 in chips)
Seat 4: ninerfan123 (2855 in chips)
Seat 5: Drawing? (3565 in chips)
Seat 6: bobthorton05 (3595 in chips)
Seat 7: MrCleanMi (3550 in chips)
Seat 8: Hock-A-Lugi (3350 in chips)
Seat 9: HERO (4865 in chips)
Papasmurf232: posts the ante 25
USSSmiley: posts the ante 25
CDThMan: posts the ante 25
ninerfan123: posts the ante 25
Drawing?: posts the ante 25
bobthorton05: posts the ante 25
MrCleanMi: posts the ante 25
Hock-A-Lugi: posts the ante 25
HERO: posts the ante 25
bobthorton05: posts small blind 200
MrCleanMi: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [8d 8c] - Many times I'll limp in and play "no set, no bet", but I needed to get some people out of this hand and get it down to 2 or 3....and taking the blinds at this level ain't a bad result here, either
Hock-A-Lugi: folds
HERO: raises 800 to 1200
Papasmurf232: folds
USSSmiley: calls 1200 Hmmmm...merely calls 1/3 of his stack off here?
CDThMan: folds
ninerfan123: folds
Drawing?: folds
bobthorton05: folds
MrCleanMi: folds
*** FLOP *** [3h Qd Kc] not a great flop for me, but with a call from my opponent instead of a re-raise, let's eliminate a pocket pair higher than JJ - if, indeed, he has a hand like 99 - JJ...or even an Ace-rag, this is going to be a real tough call for him if I jam this pot - so let's try it
HERO: bets 3640 and is all-in
USSSmiley: folds took a long time out of his time bank before folding
HERO collected 3225 from pot
HERO: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3225 | Rake 0
Board [3h Qd Kc]
Seat 1: Papasmurf232 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: USSSmiley folded on the Flop
Seat 3: CDThMan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ninerfan123 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Drawing? (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: bobthorton05 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: MrCleanMi (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Hock-A-Lugi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: HERO collected (3225)

Really horrible play pre-flop by Smiley - he only has 9 BB left before this hand, so if you're willing to call off 1/3 of your stack pre-flop, you're better re-raising me and hoping:

1) That I'll fold
2) That you actually have the best hand in an all-in situation, or
3) That you're in a coin-flip situation (2 over cards)

Certain situations like this one present itself perfectly for a good bluff - take advantage of them once in a while to help your tournament game

 

[blankoblanco]

You mention the possibility of a pocket pair below QQ or an A-rag, but nothing else. Having just called that pre-flop bet, from what I've seen online, could certainly represent a K or Q in the hand... KQ, KJ, QJ. He's already called off 1/3 of his stack (which of course I don't agree with, but what's done is done), so in the fairly likely event that he held a K or Q, you would have probably been toast. I'm not personally a huge fan of that move in this situation. If the guy's bad enough to call off 1/3 of his stack, I don't know how you can be sure he's not in with something like the hands I mentioned.

 

[BKrywko1]

I'm gonna eliminate him having KQ, KJ, or QJ based on his call - keep in mind that 5 players still have to act after him pre-flop, and at this level that would be a really speculative hand to have to play without raising, given his stack size and blind levels.

The real connundrum for me may have been what to do if an Ace flops - but since that didn't happen, I'm not gonna worry about this. Does this play after the flop work every time? More likely it doesn't - but it does show the value of aggression and continuation betting...as well as having a good read on your opponent.