Q&A #33: Semi-Bluffing with a Short Stack

Don't miss one article! Subscribe to the Full Feed RSS or get NPA in your inbox.

eng4410 asks,

Thanks for doing the site and answering questions; your advice is extremely helpful, and if your forthcoming book contains similar in-depth advice – I can’t wait!! Here are two hands from some micro-limit NL 6-Max cash games on Full Tilt which I think might provide a good platform to discuss semi-bluffing in NL in general. Thanks!

Both of these hands happened early in a session at two different tables. I have no specific reads yet (and since I just started playing on FULLTILT, I don’t have any PT stats either). The hands are kind of similar so I thought I would get some opinions on them. They are both heads-up pots where I raised with marginal hands coming in, but flopped a flush draw+overcard. Notice on Hand #1 that my raise may be large, but it is to put my opponent all-in rather than make a standard raise.

Hand #1

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $63.55
UTG+1: $50.75
Hero: $18.65
Button: $50.25
SB: $20.65
BB: $77.20

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with 8 K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.5, Button folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: 7 T 3 ($3.5, 2 players)
SB bets $3.5, Hero raises to $15.5,

Is any donk folding after leading with a PSB? What do you normally do in this situation?

Hand #2

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $77.20
UTG+1: $64.65
CO: $92
Hero: $19.25
SB: $39.75
BB: $1.65

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with A 4
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $1.75, CO folds, Hero calls $1.75 (pot was $2.5), 2 folds.

Flop: 9 5 8 ($4.25, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $4.25, UTG+1 raises to $18, Hero calls all-in $13.25.

We can’t fold getting 2-to-1 . . .right?

Ok, the blinds are $0.25-$0.50, and you’re playing each hand with slightly less than $20. That gives you a stack slightly less than 40BB, which is a pretty short stack. With at stack that short, you will end up all-in on the flop often, and you won’t have much left for turn and river play. You also don’t have a lot of bluffing leverage, as your opponents will see that you’re “just $20″ and tend to call if they flop something. For instance, you’re rarely going to get someone off top pair with that stack.

I can answer your actual questions very quickly. In hand #1, I think the all-in play is good. You have a strong flush draw and an overcard, so you likely have 40-50% equity against your opponent’s range. You don’t mind getting all-in with him, and if there’s a significant chance he’ll fold to the all-in (and I think there is… not a huge chance mind you, but still significant), then I easily like your raise. BTW, it’s not really that big an overbet… you raised a $3.50 bet to $15.50, or a $12 raise. At that point, the pot was $10.50, so your raise is only slightly bigger than pot-sized.

In hand #2, you have a no-brainer call getting 2-to-1 with the nut flush draw and an overcard. You make the flush 35% of the time, and sometimes you’ll win with an ace (or even with ace-high).

But there’s a problem…

 Print :: Trackback :: Respond ::