$10+R - down to HU - Bad spot to bluff?

[LCposter]

500+ runners, down to just 2. Ended up being a marathon heads-up session (ran 56 heads). Anyway, here is a hand early into heads-up (5th hand). I'm leaving it unconverted because the chat is telling.


PokerStars $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIV (15000/30000)
Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (396890 in chips)
Seat 7: Villian (1443110 in chips)
Hero: posts the ante 3000
Villian: posts the ante 3000
Villian: posts small blind 15000
Hero: posts big blind 30000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Th 7d]
Villian: calls 15000
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [4d 6c 9h]
Hero: checks
Villian: bets 39400
Hero: calls 39400
*** TURN *** [4d 6c 9h] [Qh]
Hero: checks
Villian: checks
*** RIVER *** [4d 6c 9h Qh] [Kc]
Hero: bets 80000
Villian said, "what could u have?"
Villian said, "hmm"
Villian: calls 80000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Th 7d] (high card King)
Villian: shows [Td 4h] (a pair of Fours)
Villian collected 304800 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 304800 | Rake 0
Board [4d 6c 9h Qh Kc]
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed [Th 7d] and lost with high card King
Seat 7: Villian (button) (small blind) showed [Td 4h] and won (304800) with a pair of Fours


Seeing the chat and how he was able to call me down with bottom pair, is this an unplayable bluff? He knows I'm checking anything less than a pair of queens, but I thought I certainly could play a K or Q the same way (I've CR'ed the turn a few times at the FT). Is he calling because he knows I'll full of **** or because he can afford to?

In hindsight, knowing that he calls the river this light, I'm better off CRAI-ing the flop with 10 BBs, a gutshot+overcard.

The thing is that we both respected each other's play, so I was pretty sure that after snapcalling his flop bet, he was checking the turn and I'd get to see two cards.

Anyway, enough rambling, wanted to get some opinions:

1) Is the river bluff bad?
2) Given the stack sizes, is a CRAI always better than check/calling the flop?

[swede554]

1) Depends on if villain thinks your floating his flop bet w/ two overs. If he hasn't seen you do it before this is not an ideal spot to bluff because your hand looks like you either got air or hit the K, maybe the Q but what Kx or Qx are you calling w/ on the flop?

Since he know you're probably not value-betting a 4,6, or a 9 here and given the check-call on the flop your hand range has become pretty polarized by your river bet so villain can call this pretty light.

2) In this spot I think so. Check-calling here is not good considering the stack sizes imo.

(edited for spelling)

[swede554]

BTW don't post results in the future. If you would've ended the action w/ your river bet it is more likely that you'll get an unbiased meaningful discussion going since people won't be influenced by the results.

[LCposter]

Point noted. I think this is the first time I posted results, and I did so because I wanted to ask the follow-up question about c/c vs crai (I thought with that question it might be obvious I lost the hand, but maybe not).

I'm hoping people think about the average opponent and hand range rather than this instance, but you're right, posting results biases the discussion.

[kniper]

bet the turn i think instead of the river

[Cornell Fiji]

Raise preflop to 110k, shove any flop. (you can't afford to let him limp - do this 70% of the time until he gets the message)

As played fold the flop. (this is a bad spot to float). A check shove is also acceptable if he always bets when checked to. Prior history on limped pots is highly significant here. He is likely calling your shove with any piece.

If you are going to float you must bet the turn.

River bet is ok