POTD #277 The Overbet Express Stops at the Wrong Station

I try to bluff someone in their very first Triton Tournament

One of the first postflop lessons I learned in poker is that when an ace flops, turns or rivers, it usually favours the aggressor. A lesson I learned later on is that when a card favours an aggressor, you check to them. It took me far longer to learn that when a card favours the in-position player, sometimes you check, but not always. Over the next five posts, I am going to be running a theme week (that spans two weeks, but that I planned when POTD ran five posts a week), that I called “Barry Greenstein Week,” where I discuss hands where I am out of position and an ace rolls off on the river. Of course, the title references Barry’s seminal book Ace on the River. I’ll get this out of the way now: In some of the hands the river will be a king, but the same concepts apply. A very good card rolls off for the in-position player. What do I do out of position? I used to have a simple answer for these sorts of hands, check range. I have since learned you need to bet sometimes. It allows you to bluff, to value bet, and it weakens your checking range enough that it encourages your opponent to bluff and value bet some of the time as well.

In our first hand, we look at a hand I played in Triton London 2023, in Event #2. I was playing someone who was unknown to me, and they did something on the turn that capped their range to my mind. When the river was an ace, I figured I’d have plenty of hands better than top pair and could build out a river betting strategy that accounted for the fact that I’d have top pair beat quite often. I went for a big overbet bluff and found out that my opponent’s range was not capped and that my overall strategy was wrong.

Triton London 2023 - Event #2 $25k NLH 7-Handed
(1k/2k/2k) (SB/BB/BBA)

It folds to Michael Rossi (270k/130BBs) in the CO who makes it 5k, it folds to me (114k/57bbs) in the BB with J♠️6♠️ and I call.

Flop (13k) 9♠️8♠️4♣️: I check, he bets 8.5k, I call.
Turn (30k) T♣️: I check, he checks.
River (30k) A♥️: I bet 98.5k of my 100.5k, he shoves, and I fold.