Here are the answers and explanations for our “Do You Know Which Hands to Bluff With?” quiz.
Hand #1
Online $0.25/$0.50. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $50.
Hero is HJ with two cards
UTG folds. Hero raises to $1.10. 2 folds. SB 3-bets to $3.55. BB folds. Hero 4-bets to $8.50 with …
A – A-Q suited
B – 55
C – A-5 suited
The correct answer is C, A-5 suited.
When looking at constructing 4-bet bluffing ranges, you want to use hands that are:
- Not strong enough to call
- Have good blockers against the continuing range versus the 4-bet
- Have good playability postflop
AQ-suited is strong enough to call and pocket 5s is also strong enough to call (at least at some frequency) but it doesn’t have good blockers. But A5-suited is not strong enough to call, has good blockers and also good playability postflop, being able to hit 2-pairs, straights and flushes.
Hand #2
Live $2/$5. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $500.
Hero is in the CO with two cards
2 folds. Hero raises to $15. BTN folds. SB calls. BB calls.
Flop ($45): K♠ T♦ 5♣
SB checks. BB checks. Hero bets $19 with …
A – A♥ 8♥
B – Q♠ J♣
C – 7♦ 5♦
The correct answer is B, Q♠ J♣.
When looking for bluffing candidates on the flop in a multiway pot, we want to use hands that have a strong chance to improve to a strong hand by/on the river.
A♥ 8♥ is too weak, with only an overcard and a backdoor gutshot. 7♦ 5♦ is too strong because by betting it, you would ruin the hand’s showdown value by getting called by too many stronger hands, while almost only folding weaker hands when it can just check back and see the turn for free.
Q♠ J♣ is the perfect candidate in this case because it has 8 outs to improve to the nut straight and the Q and J outs are also good enough to show down (maybe even value bet if you hit one of them on the turn and your opponent checks twice) after you hit them.
Hand #3
Live $2/$5. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $500.
Hero is on the BTN with two cards
3 folds. Hero raises to $15. 2 folds. BB calls.
Flop ($32): J♥ 9♦ 6♥
BB checks. Hero bets $20 with …
A – A♣ 5♣
B – K♥ 8♠
C – Q♣ 8♣
The correct answer is B, K♥ 8♠.
When playing heads-up you can open up your value betting range because you are up against better hands much less often. Because of this reason, you can also massively open up your bluffing range. You still need to have hands that have a somewhat decent draw or even backdoor draws.
If we look at A♣ 5♣, the hand is extremely weak, having an overcard and a weak backdoor straight draw. The hand is also not folding too many better hands and is getting called by a lot of stronger ones. Not a good recipe for a bluff.
Q♣ 8♣ is a much better bluffing candidate with an overcard and a gutshot. It also folds out a lot of stronger hands compared to Ac5c (like Ax and Kx). While it is a decent bluffing candidate, in this quiz we are looking for the best bluffing hands…
…and the best bluffing hand of these three is certainly K♥ 8♠. This is a great bluffing hand for a number of reasons:
- It blocks flush draws (like K♥ 3♥) that will continue versus a bet
- It has great removal on straight and/or flush runouts (e.g. it blocks flushes and straights on turns like the 7h)
- It has a bit of backdoor equity and an overcard
A very versatile bluffing hand indeed.
Hand #4
Online $1/$2. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $200.
Hero is in the BB with two cards
3 folds. BTN raises to $5. SB folds. Hero calls.
Flop ($11): Q♠ 7♦ 4♣
Hero checks. BTN bets $4. Hero calls.
Turn ($19): 6♥
Hero checks. BTN bets $15. Hero raises to $52 with …
A – 5♦ 4♦
B – 8♥ 7♥
C – A♥ 4♦
The correct answer is A, 5♦ 4♦.
Out of these options, 87 suited and 54 suited make the most sense as bluffs because they block a bunch of the button’s strongest possible hands (such as 85s, 53s, Q7s or Q4s). A4 also blocks some strong hands, but not nearly as many.
54 suited takes the lead over 87 because it blocks an extra straight (53s in addition to 85s), plus it doesn’t block as many hands in the button’s folding range (such as A8, K8 or Q8).
Hand #5
Online $1/$2. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $200.
Hero is on the BTN with two cards
3 folds. Hero raises to $5. SB folds. BB calls.
Flop ($11): A♠ T♦ 3♥
BB checks. Hero bets $8. BB calls.
Turn ($27): 6♥
BB checks. Hero bets $20 with …
A – K♠ 7♠
B – J♦ 7♦
C – 5♣ 4♣
The correct answer is C, 5♣ 4♣.
When barreling the turn, you mainly want to use hands that can improve to very strong hands on the river so that they can value bet and also expand the bluffing range in a way that the mathematics support it. Both K7-suited and J7-suited do not meet these criteria, but 54 suited does, drawing to the nut straight.
Hand #6
Live $5/$10. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $1000.
Hero is on the BTN with two cards
3 folds. Hero raises to $30. SB folds. BB calls.
Flop ($65): K♠ Q♦ 8♥
BB checks. Hero bets $45. BB calls.
Turn ($155): 9♥
BB checks. Hero bets $110 with …
A – J♦ 6♦
B – 5♣ 4♣
C – A♦ 3♦
The correct answer is A, J♦ 6♦.
The same concept applies here as well. You want to mainly use hands that have a fighting chance. J6-suited has a chance to improve to a straight while the other hands do not. On top of this, it is the only hand on the list that blocks the straight that has just completed and this has 2 great implications: more fold equity and less check-raise bluffing when holding the Jack or the Ten.
Hand #7
Live $5/$10. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $1000.
Hero is on the BTN with two cards
3 folds. Hero raises to $30. SB folds. BB calls.
Flop ($65): K♥ Q♦ 8♥
BB checks. Hero bets $45. BB calls.
Turn ($155): 9♠
BB checks. Hero bets $110. BB calls.
River ($375): 2♠
BB checks. Hero bets $280 with …
A – A♥ T♣
B – A♥ 5♥
C – J♦ 7♦
The correct answer is C, J♦ 7♦.
Since there are no more cards to come, most turn bluffs that missed now have 0% equity against the caller’s range. When this happens, the most important concept to take into account is the blocker effect. Ideally, you want to be blocking the calling range and unblocking the folding range.
With this in mind, A♥ 5♥ has extremely bad blockers because it’s blocking flush draws like A♥ 7♥ and Q♥ 5♥. A♥ T♣ also blocks some of those flush draws, thus your fold equity will be highest when betting with J♦ 7♦.
Hand #8
Live $1/$2. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $200.
Hero is on the BTN with two cards
3 folds. Hero raises to $6. SB folds. BB calls.
Flop ($13): 9♠ 7♦ 2♥
BB checks. Hero bets $7. BB calls.
Turn ($27): 9♦
BB checks. Hero bets $19. BB calls.
River ($65): Q♠
BB checks. Hero bets $100 with …
A- T♦ 6♦
B – J♠ T♣
C – 6♦ 5♦
The correct answer is B, J♠ T♣.
Blocking missed flush draws is a no-no when it comes to bluffing on the river. J♠ T♣ not only blocks a good chunk on the big blind’s calling range, but it also unblocks hands such as J♦ 2♦ and T♦ 2♦ that will end up folding on the river.
Hand #9
Online $0.5/$1. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $100.
Hero is in the CO with two cards
2 folds. Hero raises to $2.5. 2 folds. BB calls.
Flop ($5.5): A♥ T♦ 6♠
BB checks. Hero bets $3.5. BB calls.
Turn ($12.5): 7♣
BB checks. Hero bets $16. BB calls.
River ($44.5): 4♠
BB checks. Hero bets $79 with …
A – Q♣ T♦
B – J♠ 9♠
C – 6♣ 5♣
The correct answer is C, 6♣ 5♣.
Q♣ T♦ is out of the picture completely as you shouldn’t even get with this hand in this part of the game tree on the one hand and it still has some showdown value against hands like T♣ 8♣ and T♣ 9♣.
J♠ 9♠ is a somewhat decent candidate at first glance because it blocks hands such as 98 (at some frequency), A9, A8, and it also blocks the folding range through hands like AJ-offsuit.
6♣ 5♣ comes out on top because it is only blocking the calling range through hands such as A6s, T6s and unblocking all the folding range.
Hand #10
Online $0.5/$1. 6-Handed. Effective Stacks $100.
Hero is in the SB with two cards
3 folds. BTN raises to $2.5. Hero 3-bets to $10. BB folds. BTN calls.
Flop ($21): Q♥ J♦ 4♣
Hero bets $7. BTN calls.
Turn ($35): 6♣
Hero bets $30. BTN calls.
River ($95): 4♠
Hero bets $53 with …
A – T♦ 9♦
B – A♣ 8♣
C – K♣ T♣
The correct answer is A, T♦ 9♦.
In spots such as this one (3-bet pots with a triple barrel), the ranges are so tight that blockers have an enormous effect.
In this case, A♣ 8♣ doesn’t have the best blockers because the A♣ blocks a little bit of the folding range and a little bit of the calling range, a neutral blocking effect overall. K♣ T♣ is blocking a lot of the folding range — think hands such as A♣ T♣, K♣ T♣, K♣ 9♣, K♣ J♣, J♣ T♣, T♣ 9♣, and T♣ 8♣ while only blocking a bit of the calling range (such as 3 combos of K♣ Qx and Q♣ T♣).
T♦ 9♦ is unblocking a lot of the folding range because it’s not blocking any Jx that is folding or any missed flush draw, while also blocking some of the Qx hands that call (QT/Q9). Furthermore, you will fold out more better hands when you bet with T9, such as KTs or K♣ 9♣.
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