32Red Poker Blog

It’s Saturday, but I won’t be going back for day 2 of the Irish Poker Championships today, having  been knocked out in the last half hour of last night’s play. It makes for a really disappointing start to the year, as it was a day where I could not blame luck, only myself.

My tounrament essentially came down to one big semi-bluff that I made, and has left me regretting not necessarily the fact that I made the big bluff, but the way I did it.

With blinds of 150/300(25), I raised KcQc under the gun to 775. Two players in mid-position called, and the big blind also came along to a 10c6c6h flop. I do not like to go crazy betting out flush draws on a paired board beacuse a re-raise gives such problems, so I checked as the second to speak. I did not necessarily plan a big move, but the perfect situation came up as the button bet 1,500 when it was checked for him. The guy looked a little too determined as he made the bet, and his range would seem to include a lot of hands that didn’t like pressure.

With a flush draw and almost definitely two working overcards, it is almost difficult not to run a big semi-bluff. I decided I was going to 3-barrel for my stack, factoring in that a decent part of his range was the nut or other flush draw. I check-raised to 3,800, made a small turn bet of 1,600 and made my big move with a 6,000 bet on the end. This connecting bet on the turn retained my licence to bluff the end if he did have a flush draw, but this thinking all turned out to be immaterial. He called pretty quickly on the end, and tabled As10s to knock me down to the felt.

It’s a really disapponting one to think about, as the right semi-bluff is quite clearly to bet big on the turn, leaving myself a small bet on the end to still get him off the nut flush draw. It feels like even this would not have got him off A10, but there is a big enough part of his range that it would that I think makes it the right play.

Not the start to the year I wanted, ruing my misatkes rather than my luck. Still having alot of fun here with my brother; we’re just going to hunt for a cinema, before the 750 Euro side event starts today.

Stuart