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The Bluff Catcher

• 30.06.2025 7:25 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

What you get from your equity in the pot from picking off your opponent's bluff is usually referred to as bluff catcher. 

The 'bluff catcher' hand is not strong enough betting for value, since your opponent can not possibly make a call with worse.

The 'bluff catcher' hand is also not sufficiently strong to call with against your opponent's range for value-betting, since if he happens to bet for value, he will have you crushed.

Familiarizing yourself with a bluff catcher

The first step to playing your hand helpfully is by recognizing when it is a bluff catcher.

It can only be a bluff catcher on the river.

Even though your hand might literally be one on the turn, when you call, you may need to call one more bet on the river.

A real bluff catches the action. In case you call, the hand is over and right away all of those hands are automatically shown down.

Just like in Hold'em, everything that turns a hand to a bluff catcher solely depends on the number of variables, straight from your challenger to your image to any dynamics on the table.

So just like any other time, you need to be very keen on the table.

Analyze your opponent and work out their playing movements.

If you have the idea of your opponent's value-betting range, then you have the idea if your present hand is in front or at the back of that range.

If you are responsible for this, then your hand is a bluff catcher.

Give your opponent a bluffing frequency

If your opponent bets, you have to have an idea of his bluffing frequency.

In case your hand is not the best against his value-betting range, then he would have to bluff a big percentage of the time so as you can call gainfully.

All of this is taken back to investigating your opponents. Look at their raises and observe how they act when they get called.

Work out the players who are tight and ABC, which players are the best LAGS and which are the worst.

Watch each move they make.

Look at the cards they use when they are bluffing and what cards they use when they are checking.

If you know when your challenger bluffs, it will be very simple to pick him off using your bluff catcher.

If you have an idea that he will be bluffing 50% of the time, value betting the other time and his river bet is laying you to 2.5-1,then supposing your assumptions are right you have a gainful call.

For example:

Six-max, $1 or$2 blinds. $200 effective stacks.

You raise to $8 in the little blind using . Your opponent with the big blind could call.

The flop comes . You bet $10 and he raises to $35.

You call using your flush draw and the turns come . You check and your opponent bets $66. You call.

The river comes . Then you check. Your opponent lets out $100.

You do not know whether to call or not.

You should as soon as possible know that your hand actually is a bluff catcher. You have a top pair, but your kicker is not favorable and your challenger has been aggressive in the last three streets.

If your opponent is betting value in the spot, then you are crushed 100% of the time.

There is no hand within the range that he bets three streets for value that you are in front of.

Is your opponent bluffing?

Your opponent is most likely bluffing.

We do not have enough proof. We have to study your challenger and figure out his movements.

If he has an ABC or TAG, then he is not bluffing here enough to make this call gainful.

This bet is for only the value about 99% of the time and this means that you can fold easily.

If he is a great aggressive player who can raise his draws and fire the three streets even if he does not hit, then you are supposed to make a call.

All you have to do is evaluate his value-betting range against his bluffing range.

In case he has got a lot of the bluffing hands in his range, you should call.

In a hand like this even against very aggressive opponent it is very close.

The river paired the 8 and now several pair-plus- straight draws he might have raised the flop with (8-7 or 8-5) you lose to.

On the other hand, if the river blanks off something such as the 2¨, you should possibly check or call.

Another example:

Six max, $/$2 blinds. $200 effective stacks.

You raise to $8 with in the cut-off. A bad player calls on the button and all the other players folds.

The flop turns out . You bet $12 and your opponent insta-calls.

The turn appears as . You bet $25 and he tanks and then calls.

The river comes as . You check and he lets out $55.

Check out his bluffing range

Once again, it is very clear that we have a bluff catcher.

We bet the two streets with a top pair, worst kicker your opponent called the two of them.

If we check the river, your opponent fires.

If your opponent is value-betting any ace, then our hand is not good. If he has got a strange two pair, our hand is not good as well.

So we study his bluffing range. We figure out the hands he would call two streets with.

He uses aces, he uses strange one pairs, he uses two pairs and also with all the draws and straight draws.

The time a river is fired, you can take out the one-pair of hands which are very weak since every fish understands that they have showdown value.

He will inta-showdown thinking that his hand is favorable.

What are left are his bluffs and his value hands.

Since there are several draws in the hand, which missed, you can give a high frequency to a player like this.

Several fish bet busted draws each time you check to them on a missed-flush river.

This information turns the bluff-catcher hand to a call.

When you call, he shows and your hand becomes good.

Place the hand of your opponent on a range

If you want to be a good player, you have to put your opponent on a precise range.

If you can figure out what your opponent's holdings are, you will have a very big edge.

You can give your challenger a frequency of bluffing by studying draws that they have missed and the weak hands together with the knowledge you have about his style of playing.

Think of a percentage and assign the bluffing, and in case pot odds that you are getting are favorable to you, make the call and you will get a good sum of cash.