Session No. 6 Tuesday Night (5/8) Part II

Alright well like I said before I wanted to run through a couple more hands about last night's session before I'm done. Today I'm going to talk about the hand where I ran a bluff with 9-High on the river with 97s. This was in my 2nd or 3rd orbit at the table and my reads weren't too stellar. This might have been the first hand I played out of the blinds...

Hero is in the CO with 9:h:7:h:

1 limper, seat 5 (old woman) calls, Hero calls, Brian (seat 7; LAG at the time) calls, Sb folds, BB checks

Flop comes out T:c:8:d:3:s:

3 check to me, I bet, Brian raises, 2 folds, Old woman calls, I call

Turn: 5:c:
Old woman checks, I check, Brian checks

Hmm...so was he drawing too? As I would find out later, Brian liked to raise a lot on the flop in hopes of seeing free river cards. I hadn't played with him enough to know that's what he was doing on this hand. If I had the flush draw on the flop, I probably three-bet, but I don't like going crazy with an OESD (open-ended straight draw)OOP. I planned on check/calling this turn if I missed or check-raising this spot if I hit my straight.

River: Q:d:

Old woman checks, Hero bets, Brian and the older woman fold

Brian was talking alot throughout this entire hand, and when the river hit he made a comment about "oh, looks like J9 got there..." which sorta gave me the green light to bluff. I had seen the older woman cold-call bets when drawing before, and then immediately betting out on the turn or river if she hit anything. When she checked the river, I was fairly certain she missed a draw. She might have had middle pair on the flop or a weak-ten she could call me down with, but I was thinking she missed. Brian reaked of a missed draw and I figured my bet was either going to get raised by him or folded. He patted the felt before saying "nice hand" as a sort of way of him saying he read my soul and "knew" I had the straight. The older woman folded very quickly and simply said "there's no way I can call you there." To their credit, this was the first hand I played out of the blinds since I got to the table (and after a couple orbits), so they probably thought I was tight/solid and wouldn't bet out there without a hand.

I debated on whether or not to show the hand for a few seconds there, but I knew in the end that would just be arrogant and be a lame attempt to show "how awesome I was" *wink*. I would rather them not know I am capable of bluffing with 9-High on the river if I sense weakness. This would turn out to be the first of two pure bluffs I ran last night, and I think I timed them both fairly well. I liked my play with the 97 because I'm only risking one BB on the river there to win about 6BB. It's a small enough pot that no one has to make any hero-calls on the end with 3rd pair, but big enough for me to bet my 9-High (because there's no way I'm winning the hand if it gets checked through).