Hi all,

I’m a recreational player trying to tune up my game in preparation for my WSOP trip later this month. I’ve been re-watching Andrew Brokos’ bluffing theory videos and I am trying to get better at identifying good bluffing spots when I play. Below is a hand I played recently at the weekly home game tournament I frequent. I would like opinions on how good a spot this is to bluff. I am most interested in the turn play, but any comments on my preflop/flop action would be welcome as well.

Live $100 freeze-out, 10 players left out of 18 entrants. Top 4 get paid.

Blinds are 400/800/200 ante. I have 25k (31BB) to start the hand, villain (Button) covers. Avg stack is ~30k.

Some background on the villain: He is a competent but not particularly sophisticated player. I’ve seen him do some rudimentary hand reading at times, but I’d say he’s generally a level 1 thinker and plays fairly straightforwardly based on his own perceived hand strength. He seems invested in his own self image as a “smart” player, in that he tends to avoid situations in which his play could be perceived as “bad” or “dumb” by others. I’ve played with him many times, but I haven’t seen him much over the past year so his read of me is likely based on my pre-TPE game, which was much more tight-passive and ABC than I’d like to think it is now. 

On to the hand…

3 folds to me in MP, I raise to 1800 with AdKs. Folds to the villain on the button who calls relatively quickly and without much thought. Both blinds fold. Pot is 6800.

Flop: Jd 7d 5s

I bet 2300 and the button calls quickly again. I get the vibe that he thinks this is an “automatic” call. Pot is now 11,400. I have 20,900 behind.

Turn: Jd 7d 5s Qc

What’s your play on the turn and why? I would like to hear others thoughts on whether to bet and if so how much. I can post my own thought process and subsequent action in a later post if there is interest.

Thanks in advance TPE Nation!

Adam