How could I have made this bluff work?

Quinner

PokerStars Game #26587484297: Tournament #150908427, $1.00+$0.10 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (60/120) - 2009/03/31 19:23:05 ET
Table '150908427 136' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Polevikov (1475 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: PokerCluster (10590 in chips)
Seat 3: renodrywall (1850 in chips)
Seat 4: bufflehead17 (1105 in chips)
Seat 5: jt242 (3015 in chips)
Seat 6: raillou (9275 in chips)
Seat 7: kleefeld_61. (10990 in chips)
Seat 8: rideja (3230 in chips)
Seat 9: Quinner777 (4925 in chips)
Polevikov: posts the ante 15
PokerCluster: posts the ante 15
renodrywall: posts the ante 15
bufflehead17: posts the ante 15
jt242: posts the ante 15
raillou: posts the ante 15
kleefeld_61.: posts the ante 15
rideja: posts the ante 15
Quinner777: posts the ante 15
bufflehead17: posts small blind 60
jt242: posts big blind 120
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Quinner777 [Qd Ah]
raillou: raises 120 to 240
kleefeld_61.: calls 240
rideja: folds
Quinner777: raises 480 to 720
Polevikov: folds
PokerCluster: folds
renodrywall: folds
bufflehead17: folds
jt242: folds
raillou: calls 480
kleefeld_61.: folds
*** FLOP *** [Js 7c 2h]
raillou: bets 480
Quinner777: raises 480 to 960
raillou: calls 480
*** TURN *** [Js 7c 2h] [3h]
raillou: checks
Quinner777: bets 3230 and is all-in
raillou: calls 3230
*** RIVER *** [Js 7c 2h 3h] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
raillou: shows [9h 9d] (a pair of Nines)
Quinner777: shows [Qd Ah] (high card Ace)
raillou collected 10375 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10375 | Rake 0
Board [Js 7c 2h 3h 5d]
Seat 1: Polevikov folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: PokerCluster folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: renodrywall (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: bufflehead17 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: jt242 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: raillou showed [9h 9d] and won (10375) with a pair of Nines
Seat 7: kleefeld_61. folded before Flop
Seat 8: rideja folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Quinner777 showed [Qd Ah] and lost with high card Ace

I honestly think I would actually play AA the same way here so what did I do to make him not believe me?

JohnnieH

Quinner;182963 wrotePokerStars Tournament $1.00+$0.10 Hold'em No Limit

Here's your problem.

Never bluff a donkey.

Quinner

JohnnieH;182970 wroteHere's your problem.

Never bluff a donkey.

DAMMIT thats the second time I should have taken that advice today!

JohnnieH

Quinner;182981 wroteDAMMIT thats the second time I should have taken that advice today!

lol. Nice.

Seriously, it is really tough making moves against players at this level.

You're better off at extracting chips through made hands, not through bluffing.

cadillac

Are you trying to emulate the way you play AA or are you trying to play your hand?

I am not a fan of min raising ever but your biggest mistake here is your river bet. You have priced him in to a call here with a hand like this.

If your range is something like 88+ and AT+ or something thereabouts and he thinks you bluff at least half of your AK AQ type of hands this isn't a terrible call.

Oh Yeah. People that play $1.00 tournaments are just looking for a reason to call.

Henjon

AQ is a hand that is easy to overplay. You have two persons in the pot already who raised/called from early positions. You should assume that you're not leading the hand right now and that at least one of them will call, no matter how big raise you put in. In that case I would prefer to just call here. You don't want to bet for value if you don't think you have the lead. And why raise to "send a message" if the guy won't get your message?

With a raise here you want your opponent to think "Oops, he has a strong hand and he has position on me. I better proceed with caution" (if he even decides to call). With only a middlepair and at least one overcard on the board (and the possibility of you having a higher pair in the hole) that should often result in him checking on the flop. That should give you a nice opportunity to lead out with a reasonably bet and make him fold. But this guy will probably play his hand in the same way, no matter if you raised or not. You also have to consider the possibility that he has a better hand than you think. He could have AA (even on lower levels many players seems to like to put in minraises hoping somebody will put in a big reraise) and then you're practically dead or KK (little better but then only an A or KT for straight would save you). Another possibility could be JJ for trips or AJ for TPTK. Even the most weaktight player isn't going to fold any of those hands I think no matter if you shove in all your chips.

I don't bluff often since I don't think I have developed enough skills for it yet. And as said above: There are too much donks and calling stations on this lower levels to make it profitable. If I bluff I mostly do it when I have position and all other players checked on the flop or turn and it doesn't look like the board helped anyone or put anyone on a draw. (I don't include semibluffs when I'm on a draw myself in this).

Another argument: Villain has on of the bigger stacks on the table. I think a bluff would have had more chance to succeed if you would have covered villain's stack but that the stack wasn't so small that he would have been desperate for an opportunity. Or if you had seen him make c-bets earlier and fold to a reraise.

PokerKai

I think your making a couple very common mistakes here. First off, it seems like you had it in your head that you were gonna bluff this pot right from the get go...kind of a bad idea. Youve really got to pick the right spots and basically you shoved it in on the least scariest board you for your opponent. The board came pretty bricky and you have to imagine if the player can call your raise PF and on the flop, the turn offsuit trey isnt likely to make him fold.

Secondly, your bet sizing was pretty bad. When your going to bluff someone with your whole stack, at least you should give your opponent multiple chances to make a fold. The PF raise was way too small for a squeeze, the min raise on the flop isnt getting many pairs to fold...your basically bloating the pot and hoping your one magic turn bullet takes it.

herschelw

First of all your flop reraise was too small. Second, when someone donk leads(leads out of position rather than letting you Cbet) then calls a reraise they are almost never going to fold. It's not possible to bluff here because he's just too bad of a player to fold.

herschelw

Just realized it's a $1 tournament. Basically the best strategy in a $1 tournament is to almost never bluff. Play the most straightforward boring poker and you will win. Try to do anything creative and you're just hurting your profitability.