OTB #065: What Makes a Good Bluff Catcher?

Bluff catching is a vital skill when playing against good players.

The term "bluff catching" refers to calling a bet when you believe your opponent is bluffing enough to make the call at least break-even.

It's risky, but can be highly rewarding when done correctly.

Here's an example...

8-max MTT, 40bb deep at the start of the hand, it folds to the Button who opens to 2.3bb, the Small Blind folds and you call in the Big Blind.

You check call a 69% pot bet on the 9h 7d 4c flop and a 68% pot bet on the 2h turn.

The river is the Js, you check and the BTN jams for 69% pot.

Which of these hands makes the best bluff catcher in this spot?

a) T7o

b) 93s

c) 87s

d) A7o

Today I'm going to show you why 93s is the best bluff catcher.

Let's dive in...

Good or bad?

A good bluff catcher is a hand that can beat your opponent's potential bluffs, but isn't strong enough to beat their value hands.

A bad bluff catcher is a hand that blocks bluffs and doesn't block many (or any) value hands.

This means that in an ideal world you want to block your opponent's value hands and unblock their bluffs.

What is the Button actually jamming?

On this runout, the Button's value betting range is most second pair hands and better, which means top pairs, overpairs, two pair hands, sets and straights.

And then the bluffs come from Ace highs, King highs and No made hands.

Looking at this graphic, you should be able to see that straights make up a very small proportion (2.3%) of the Button's jamming range on the river, while second pair makes up a huge proportion (22.2%).

When bluff catching, it's important to block the bigger chunk of your opponent's value range.

So while T7o and 87s block straights and can also block some sets and two pair, they also block some bluffs including ATo, A8o, KTo, K8s, QTs and Q8o.

Remember: Blocking value bets is good. Blocking bluffs is bad.

The best bluff catcher

Bluff catching is all about calling with hands that block your opponent's value range while avoiding hands that block their potential bluffs.

In the example above, 93s is the best bluff catcher because it blocks more value hands without blocking bluffs, making it a more profitable call than T7o or 87s.

Next time you're in a spot on the river holding a bluff catcher, think about your opponent's jamming range and ask yourself, "What does my opponent's jamming range actually look like and does my hand block their value hands and unblock their bluffs?"

That's it for this week.

See you next time.