blonde poker forum

In my regular Wednesday night games I have a hard-earned reputation for playing a very tight range of cards.

Early in the tournament (£10 HH max 25 players) I play 77+ ; A 10s +; AQo+ unless I'm in the BB and face a max raise of 2BB when I will extend the range depending on who else / how many others are in

As the tournament moves on, and having reinforced my rep I start to loosen up a little and can often induce a fold from some of the looser players (and they are exceedingly loose).

I made two moves last night which I was particularly pleased with, inducing folds from two of the more aggressive players with both of them showing me their hands and confidently misdescribing mine.

On both occasions I did what I generally do and pushed my cards into the muck.

I will occasionally show my AA/AK/etc when I push others off a pot. Should I also occasionally show my bluff?

I don't because I value the reputation I've worked for and because I think it makes my raises more effective in getting the random hands out of the equation. But... it does make getting full value from hands more difficult when the opponent assumes that you're betting only from strength.

I'm sure this has been discussed often and at length. No doubt a link to the last such thread will appear shortly

you will know when you are ready to show cards, until then, dont imo.

Is that like knowing when you've found 'the one'? I thought I'd done that 30+years ago and I'm still living with that decision  ;D

I rarely feel the urge to show cards and when I do get that urge, I try not to show.   Last time I showed a card I wished I hadn't.  It didn't do me any harm, but it was pointless and unnecessary and I don't do it anymore.

I think you've got more to lose than you have to gain.

The tight rep does you good.

We'd all like help in getting value off our made hands. Showing one or two bluffs now and then is not going to achieve spectacular results though. We're still only going to get paid when they have something. A completely crazy image is required for people to call with weak holdings, getting that image sacrifices too much.

Can't have it both ways, so stick with the tight imo. You've got a good thing going.
If you're really concerned about the not getting paid thing, increase the frequency that you bluff at flops.

I would say never show leave them wondering. Very little to be gained by showing so don’t give them free info. and use your image wisely.

This is good advice imo. If you aren't sure whether it is good idea, don't show.

In my view, there is as much to gain by selectively Showing, as not Showing.

You can build image both ways.

But as others have said, you need to think (and know) why you're showing.

Never show a bluff,bad move,upsets people.

Obviously.

And the same, precisely & exactly the same, applies to not showing.

My biggest problem with showing is being afraid I've given the person a read.  She looks like this, she has a hand.  She looks like that, she's gonna crush ya. 

I never/extremely rarely show bluffs, only against my friends normally.  I'll occassionally show the odd hand, but not often, and only when I consider it to be for my advantage i.e if I have been really active at a table I might show a hand or two so I am still getting the respect when I need it.  If I'm not getting a lot of action, then I might show a bluff, but next time I'll make sure I have the cards to go with my bet.  A lot of the time it's just pointless and showing off.  I was playing a HU sng the other day and the blinds were big, 100/200 I think, and the guy I was playing shoved on my BB and then showed me 92off.  That is just completely pointless and only gives information to me at the end of the day.  It's complicated, but you have to make sure anything you show is to your own advantage and that you aren't just giving away free information.

If you never get caught bluffing, then you're not bluffing enough.

The times you get caught should be sufficient advertising.

That's what I reckon too.  No point adding to their information when you get away with one.

True about the bluffing, but there might be a specific tournament where you haven't played the same people before, have had the goods everytime, and are not getting any action.  Can't advertise to people you've never played before.

Can the mods discuss my post and decide if it was really necessary to delete it.

Cheers.

I like this.

I do get caught, generally when I make a steal attempt and run into AA in the big blind...


Now I'm curious!

Thing is it wasn't even bad! I made (i think a quite amusing) a joke about tightend

 rotflmfao

I will never show a bluff. When I say bluff I mean a hand where you know you're losing and make a big bet or raise because you know the other guy is weak and will fold a winning hand.

This to me is just bragging and makes you look like a fool. It just shows me that you're so proud of the fact you've made a bluff you obviously don't do it very often. Bluffing is excellent poker. Showing a bluff is poor poker.

What I will occasionally show is weak hands when I'm in shove mode with a short stack. These are not bluffs, they are steals and are a competely different thing as they still have a chance of winning even if they are called.

I do this because I want to open up my oppos calling ranges so that if i do get a weak ace I have a chance of being ahead if I get called. I also do this because I want my oppos to know that I am shoving atc and want a call. I want them to know that my range has widened significantly so they can widen their's as well.

This may sound silly to some but if I'm in shove mode it's because I want a call so that I can double up and have a chance to play a bit again. I don't mind taking a gamble when I'm short and I would rather my oppos open up their range rather than wait for something good which will have me in trouble.

I also find that once I get my double up and pull my range back in that people don't realise. This means that I can reraise with decent hands and have a chance of being called by weaker aces and lower pairs than they would normally need to call for their whole stack.

All they can remember is the idiot who was shoving his chips in and showing 72o who is obviously at it again.

The other ones I will show are where an oppo has made a big fold with a strong hand that I have beat. I like to make him feel good about his fold and let him know that I am not a bully. This might give me a chance to repeat the same betting pattern later when I don't have such a strong hand and hopefully get it through.

I found this very confusing till I worked out that by 'narrow' you actually mean 'widen'.

I think I'll edit that.  ;djinn;

I couldn't disagree less with your sentiments though.

and this is bad why?

level?

Which bit?

The not showing bluffs or showing crap hands wanting a call?

The last bit's comp dependant to be fair. I wouldn't be doing it if I had a lot of money invested but in the £50 - £100 tourneys that I usually play at DTD I often do this.

Online I never show a thing. Too many good players who know how to use info to their advantage. At DTD it's just a bit of fun and most won't call anyway. I've just found recently that letting people know that my range has changed once I've hit 10 big blinds works more often than it doesn't.

If you don't know how or if you should adjust to showing someone a bluff then you're better off not showing. I think you'd need to know how they react or showing the bluff could come back to haunt you. 

The idea of shoving light when you are short is because you have FE, to then let your oppo's know you are shoving light defeats the purpose!

Making an oppo feel good about himself is also a bad idea, if they make a sick fold faceup just muck, they will be thinking about the hand for ages rather than thinking about the hands they are playing.

Yeah you're right on the shoving light one. Like I said it's very comp dependant and I do it when I desperately need a double up. Wouldn't be pratting about in a deepstack tourney with more at stake. Consider my wrist slapped.

I like the other one though. Not so much to make him feel good but to let him (and everyone else) know that if I'm reraising big I've got a lot of hand backing it up.

Just to check. All this stuff is classed as metagame? Is that right?

Would you then intend to start raising with weaker hands,if not i don't see the point in doing this.I never understand why people show the nuts when someone else shows there fold the they think is good why confirm it to them therefore making them feel more confident as flushy sames let them sit and stew about it.I personally never show.But i do think think it can be used to your advantage

It depends on the situation. I certainly wouldn't be doing it straight away or too often because that's too obvious. You have to do it against good players who remember and are also capable of making big folds. I might not use it until a few hours later and then only if the right hand comes up.

It would have to be something like a heavy drawing board where I know the oppo has something strong but probably hasn't got the nuts. When he value bets on the end I make a big reraise. This is where you need him to go in to the tank and remember that hand a few hours ago where you did the same thing with the stone cold nuts.

You might not get the opportunity to use it and it may go completely wrong if he has got the nuts. On the other hand it may just help him find that fold and give you a nice big pot that you otherwise wouldn't have won.

It might just help him find the fold that you need.

Conversely of course it might make him fold when you actually want the call which would be bad but I think tournaments are won by making the most of your bad hands rather than relying on your good ones.