1 00:00:01,350 --> 00:00:04,500 Mike: It's time to upgrade your skills with Upswing Poker Level up, 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:07,560 the world's first and only podcast about poker. 3 00:00:07,710 --> 00:00:11,430 My name is Mike Brady and Scottish Poker Pro Gary Blackwood is here to bust some 4 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,080 myths about blockers. 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:14,730 Gary: That's right guys and girls, 6 00:00:14,731 --> 00:00:18,870 we'll be talking all things blockers in this episode when they're most important 7 00:00:18,871 --> 00:00:22,020 and also equally when they're not as important as you might think. 8 00:00:23,190 --> 00:00:27,150 Mike: A blocker is a card held by a player that makes it impossible or less 9 00:00:27,151 --> 00:00:31,350 likely that an opponent has a hand that includes that card or a card of the same 10 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:32,700 rank. For example, 11 00:00:32,701 --> 00:00:36,060 if there are three spades on the board and I hold the ace of spades, 12 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,730 I quote unquote block the nut flush. 13 00:00:38,731 --> 00:00:41,940 My opponent cannot have the nut flush when I have the ace of spades. 14 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,060 Blockers are a fundamental part of poker strategy, 15 00:00:45,061 --> 00:00:49,800 but they're also one of the most misunderstood parts of poker strategy. 16 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:54,240 Many players disregard blockers and leave a ton of money on the table because 17 00:00:54,241 --> 00:00:58,290 they really do matter in a number of spots. On the other side of the coin, 18 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:03,300 some players overvalue blockers in certain situations and flush money down 19 00:01:03,301 --> 00:01:05,040 the toilet as a result. 20 00:01:05,430 --> 00:01:08,880 We're about to run through three situations in which blockers should play a 21 00:01:08,881 --> 00:01:12,030 major role in your strategy. From there, 22 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,500 Gary will share three situations in which you should completely ignore 23 00:01:16,501 --> 00:01:20,820 blockers and make your decision based on more consequential factors. 24 00:01:21,270 --> 00:01:22,950 Let's dive right into it. Gary, 25 00:01:22,951 --> 00:01:27,120 what is the first situation in which blockers really matter? 26 00:01:28,410 --> 00:01:32,760 Gary: Your blockers are most important on the river. As ranges get narrower, 27 00:01:32,910 --> 00:01:35,190 blockers become more important, and as a result, 28 00:01:35,191 --> 00:01:38,970 the cards that you hold will help you make your decisions more than any other 29 00:01:38,971 --> 00:01:39,960 point in the hand. 30 00:01:40,290 --> 00:01:44,610 One really great example of this with really narrow ranges is from a hand that I 31 00:01:44,611 --> 00:01:47,610 played recently. The button opens, I defend the big blind, 32 00:01:47,611 --> 00:01:50,100 we go heads up to eight four deuce with two diamonds. 33 00:01:50,370 --> 00:01:53,190 Flop goes check check and the six of spades hits the turn. 34 00:01:53,250 --> 00:01:56,100 I lead out from the big blind for 75% pot, 35 00:01:56,610 --> 00:02:00,420 my opponent makes the call and on the jack of spades river I blocked. 36 00:02:00,421 --> 00:02:03,720 As we can see, the solver is splitting between small and medium sized bets. 37 00:02:03,730 --> 00:02:08,730 Here my opponent then raised my block bet to a large size and if we 38 00:02:08,731 --> 00:02:13,230 look at the hands that want to three bet jam as a bluff, they are really, 39 00:02:13,231 --> 00:02:15,510 really defined by our blockers. 40 00:02:15,630 --> 00:02:19,860 We want to block our opponent from having pocket sixes, eight six suited, 41 00:02:19,890 --> 00:02:21,990 jack six and jack eight suited. 42 00:02:22,290 --> 00:02:26,850 And we also want to block seven five as well. Hands like seven six suited, 43 00:02:26,851 --> 00:02:29,340 six five offsuit, eight five suited, 44 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,020 eight seven suited that block both the straights and the two pairs and the sets. 45 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,730 These are the combos that 90% of our bluffs are derived from. 46 00:02:39,630 --> 00:02:43,710 Mike: So once again, this board is eight four two turn six river jack. 47 00:02:43,711 --> 00:02:46,950 So seven five is the nut straight and then obviously some of the strongest 48 00:02:46,951 --> 00:02:50,550 possible hands are sets, a set of eights, a set of sixes and so on. 49 00:02:50,910 --> 00:02:54,930 Gary's point here is that when we are running a big bluff on this river, 50 00:02:54,940 --> 00:02:56,700 in this case we bet small on the river, 51 00:02:57,330 --> 00:03:02,110 faced a raise and now we're considering a bluff all in jam against that 52 00:03:02,111 --> 00:03:02,944 raise, 53 00:03:03,130 --> 00:03:07,660 the hands that we want to do that with all have blockers to 54 00:03:07,661 --> 00:03:10,660 those strongest possible hands in our opponent's range. 55 00:03:10,870 --> 00:03:13,510 We don't want our opponent to have pocket eights, 56 00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:17,890 pocket sixes or seven five when we go all in because he's going to call put 57 00:03:17,891 --> 00:03:22,660 simply. So when we bluff we want to have a hand like eight five suited, 58 00:03:22,661 --> 00:03:25,690 which blocks both of them. It blocks a set of eights and it blocks seven five. 59 00:03:25,930 --> 00:03:28,930 We want to have a hand like seven six or eight seven, same exact thing. 60 00:03:28,940 --> 00:03:30,430 We block not only the nut straight, 61 00:03:30,580 --> 00:03:34,000 but we also block sets and all of those hands are the hands that are going to 62 00:03:34,001 --> 00:03:35,710 call this river jam. 63 00:03:36,190 --> 00:03:40,690 And if we go another step back this range that our opponent has on the river, 64 00:03:41,170 --> 00:03:44,230 we've already seen them raise pre flop, they check back on the flop, 65 00:03:44,231 --> 00:03:47,170 then they call the bet on the turn and then raised on the river. 66 00:03:47,530 --> 00:03:51,160 Only a very narrow range of hands is going to take all of those actions. 67 00:03:51,161 --> 00:03:55,360 Every single action they have taken so far has narrowed what they could have so 68 00:03:55,390 --> 00:03:57,970 they don't have just a ton of hands in their range. 69 00:03:57,971 --> 00:04:02,380 They've already narrowed it quite a bit to not so many combos. 70 00:04:02,381 --> 00:04:07,060 The total range is only about 130 combos, which is really not that much. 71 00:04:07,420 --> 00:04:09,160 And then looking at the composition of that range, 72 00:04:09,161 --> 00:04:11,410 there are some overpairs in there that slow-played on the flop. 73 00:04:11,411 --> 00:04:12,670 There are some rivered top pairs, 74 00:04:12,671 --> 00:04:15,310 things of that nature that do raise on the river, 75 00:04:15,610 --> 00:04:20,440 but then the hands that are able to then call our river all in are pretty 76 00:04:20,441 --> 00:04:23,620 specific. He calls when he has a two pair hand like jack eight, 77 00:04:23,830 --> 00:04:27,070 a set like pocket sixes, the nut straight with seven five. 78 00:04:27,310 --> 00:04:30,190 A handful of overpairs do make the call, 79 00:04:30,191 --> 00:04:34,030 although I'd question whether a human opponent would make those calls. 80 00:04:34,420 --> 00:04:39,100 But the point is we really want to be blocking those major call 81 00:04:39,110 --> 00:04:42,820 hands like the two pairs that involve a six or an eight, like the straight, 82 00:04:42,940 --> 00:04:45,940 like the set of sixes. That's what we want to be blocking here. 83 00:04:46,030 --> 00:04:48,610 So we don't just bluff with some random hand here, 84 00:04:48,611 --> 00:04:50,830 we don't just bluff because we think they're weak. 85 00:04:50,831 --> 00:04:54,880 We bluff because we have the right combination to do it with and it's a 86 00:04:54,881 --> 00:04:59,170 combination that blocks a considerable portion of the hands with which they will 87 00:04:59,171 --> 00:05:02,980 call. Put simply, by bluffing with the proper hands here, 88 00:05:02,981 --> 00:05:05,800 the hands with good blockers to their calling range, 89 00:05:05,950 --> 00:05:10,840 our bluff is going to work considerably more often and net us more profit in the 90 00:05:10,841 --> 00:05:11,674 long run. 91 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,640 Gary: And this is a very specific example but it's one that Mike and I have 92 00:05:15,650 --> 00:05:20,410 chosen on purpose to sort of really drill home our first point here of just how 93 00:05:20,411 --> 00:05:24,390 important your blockers are on the river and also when you're playing for stacks 94 00:05:24,391 --> 00:05:29,260 if you want to run a crazy block then three bet bluff jam all in for all the 95 00:05:29,261 --> 00:05:30,070 chips. 96 00:05:30,070 --> 00:05:34,480 You can see just how important your blockers are here and you want to be 97 00:05:34,481 --> 00:05:37,330 choosing the right combination. So when you get to the river, 98 00:05:37,331 --> 00:05:40,330 when you want to play for stacks, when ranges get really narrow, 99 00:05:40,660 --> 00:05:44,230 I cannot stress how important it is that you're choosing the combos that have 100 00:05:44,231 --> 00:05:45,160 the best blockers. 101 00:05:45,490 --> 00:05:49,510 You want to block your opponent's ability to call you off in this spot. 102 00:05:49,780 --> 00:05:51,790 So your blockers are so important. 103 00:05:52,510 --> 00:05:54,940 Mike: And this was an extreme example like Gary said, 104 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:59,060 I bet a lot of people listening can count on one hand or maybe even zero hands 105 00:05:59,061 --> 00:06:02,480 how many times they've blocked the river and then went all in over a raise. 106 00:06:02,540 --> 00:06:05,210 It's a fairly rare line, especially if you play live, 107 00:06:05,510 --> 00:06:10,040 but this advice does track for any deep in the game tree river 108 00:06:10,041 --> 00:06:13,460 scenario. It could be a more simple scenario like you raise pre-flop, 109 00:06:13,580 --> 00:06:14,400 you bet on the flop, 110 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,810 you bet on the turn and now you're considering an all-in bet on the river or 111 00:06:17,811 --> 00:06:20,750 maybe it's a three bet pot and you bet on the flop and the turn went check 112 00:06:20,751 --> 00:06:22,190 check. It's the same idea. 113 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,450 Whenever a lot of actions have been taken that has narrowed the ranges 114 00:06:26,451 --> 00:06:30,380 considerably, that's when these blockers are going to be super, super critical. 115 00:06:31,490 --> 00:06:32,900 Moving on Gary, 116 00:06:32,901 --> 00:06:36,860 what is the second situation in which unblockers matter? 117 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,300 Gary: So following on from that last answer again talking about general river 118 00:06:41,301 --> 00:06:44,960 strategy. When choosing combos that want to triple barrel, 119 00:06:45,260 --> 00:06:49,220 we want to focus on not quite our blockers but our unblockers. 120 00:06:49,230 --> 00:06:52,040 This is a concept we've spoken about on past episodes, 121 00:06:52,220 --> 00:06:54,110 but again it's really important stuff. 122 00:06:55,070 --> 00:06:57,950 Mike: Let's define unblockers really quick just to make sure everyone's on the 123 00:06:57,951 --> 00:07:02,060 same page. So it's very much the same idea as blockers, 124 00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:03,680 it's just kind of the other side of the coin. 125 00:07:04,190 --> 00:07:08,660 So unblocking refers to holding a card that does not lower the 126 00:07:08,661 --> 00:07:11,270 probability that an opponent has a certain hand. 127 00:07:11,271 --> 00:07:14,240 It's sort of the opposite of a blocker. In other words, 128 00:07:14,241 --> 00:07:18,860 an unblocker is a card that makes hands that don't contain that card more 129 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:19,753 likely. 130 00:07:20,060 --> 00:07:23,420 I won't give an example of unblocking yet because you're about to get one. 131 00:07:24,260 --> 00:07:27,650 Gary: So let's use a three bet pot for this example. The button has opened, 132 00:07:27,710 --> 00:07:31,490 the small blind has three bet and the button has made the call. 133 00:07:31,491 --> 00:07:34,070 We go heads up to queen seven deuce with two clubs. 134 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,340 The small blind is going to bet small here for 25% on the flop, 135 00:07:37,700 --> 00:07:40,370 the button is going to make the call. We go heads up to the turn, 136 00:07:40,371 --> 00:07:44,120 which is the eight of hearts we barrel again from the small blind this time for 137 00:07:44,121 --> 00:07:48,290 75% on the turn and again the button makes the call. 138 00:07:48,380 --> 00:07:53,270 The river is the three of diamonds and most of our club combos now 139 00:07:53,271 --> 00:07:57,170 are giving up. Hands like jack ten of clubs, 140 00:07:57,410 --> 00:08:01,280 jack nine of clubs, almost all of our nut flush draws. 141 00:08:01,820 --> 00:08:02,840 They bet the flop, 142 00:08:02,841 --> 00:08:06,320 they bet the turn because they have equity and then they give up on the river. 143 00:08:06,321 --> 00:08:10,310 We have very bad blockers here blocking our opponents folding range. 144 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,260 You think of the types of hands that the button is going to call the flop, 145 00:08:12,810 --> 00:08:16,160 call the turn and then fold the river with it is their club draws. 146 00:08:16,430 --> 00:08:17,960 So from the point of view of the small blind, 147 00:08:17,961 --> 00:08:21,800 we don't bluff these hands and instead we choose hands that have better 148 00:08:22,130 --> 00:08:25,070 blockers. IE, they don't block their opponents folding range, 149 00:08:25,460 --> 00:08:29,540 hands like ten nine, jack nine, ace king offsuit. 150 00:08:29,570 --> 00:08:33,380 All these types of hands make for far better bluffs on the river because they 151 00:08:33,381 --> 00:08:35,360 don't block our opponents folding range. 152 00:08:36,140 --> 00:08:41,120 Mike: It really stinks to have a missed flush draw when you are 153 00:08:41,121 --> 00:08:43,220 considering bluffing in a spot like this. 154 00:08:43,221 --> 00:08:46,940 So once again the board was queen seven two with two clubs and the turn and 155 00:08:46,941 --> 00:08:49,280 river bricked off. They were not clubs, they were not over cards. 156 00:08:49,700 --> 00:08:53,270 Think about the types of hands that your opponent would call the pre-flop three 157 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:55,170 bet with in position, then call a flop bet, 158 00:08:55,171 --> 00:08:58,260 then call the turn bet with on this queen seven two, 2 club board, 159 00:08:58,770 --> 00:09:02,100 they're going to have a lot of flush draws. Ace five of clubs, 160 00:09:02,340 --> 00:09:06,630 ten nine of clubs, king ten of clubs, ace jack of clubs. 161 00:09:06,631 --> 00:09:08,550 I could probably list these for a good two minutes. 162 00:09:08,790 --> 00:09:11,430 There's a lot of flush draws in their range. 163 00:09:11,700 --> 00:09:15,870 They're also going to fold to a river bet because they've missed their flush so 164 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:17,670 of their folding range, 165 00:09:17,730 --> 00:09:21,210 a really good chunk of it is a missed flush draw. 166 00:09:21,570 --> 00:09:26,430 Therefore you don't want to have a missed flush draw yourself because 167 00:09:26,431 --> 00:09:30,810 that weights them away from having a missed flush draw which will fold and it 168 00:09:30,811 --> 00:09:35,070 weights them towards having a made hand which may call. 169 00:09:35,340 --> 00:09:38,820 By having jack ten of clubs here or ace jack of clubs here, 170 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,050 we essentially make it more likely that our opponent has king queen, 171 00:09:43,230 --> 00:09:46,980 which is top pair that's probably going to call the river or maybe a hand like a 172 00:09:46,981 --> 00:09:50,790 set of eights that they hit on the turn or maybe a hand like a set of sevens 173 00:09:50,791 --> 00:09:52,830 that they've slow played on the flop and turn. 174 00:09:53,100 --> 00:09:56,790 So you really don't want to be bluffing with a missed flush draw on this spot. 175 00:09:57,060 --> 00:10:01,950 Rather you want to bluff with hands that unblock the missed flush 176 00:10:01,951 --> 00:10:06,060 draw. So a perfect bluffing hand on this river would be a hand like jack ten of 177 00:10:06,061 --> 00:10:07,980 diamonds. It's a hand you three bet pre flop. 178 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,560 You bet on the flop as a continuation bet, you had some backdoor draws. 179 00:10:10,740 --> 00:10:14,520 You turn a gut shot so you continue barreling queen seven two, turn eight, 180 00:10:14,521 --> 00:10:17,430 you continue barreling with your jack ten of diamonds and then the river bricks 181 00:10:17,431 --> 00:10:21,810 off. You have jack ten of diamonds and you don't block their missed flush draws. 182 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:23,940 So this is a slam dunk all in. 183 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,840 Every time you get to this river with jack ten suited no clubs, 184 00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:29,610 you are going to be bluffing all in. 185 00:10:29,730 --> 00:10:33,570 It has perfect unblockers and not bad blockers. 186 00:10:34,230 --> 00:10:36,060 Now there is one interesting effect here. 187 00:10:36,090 --> 00:10:40,110 You might think based on the advice we just gave you that you wouldn't want to 188 00:10:40,111 --> 00:10:43,800 bluff with a hand like ace of clubs king. 189 00:10:43,860 --> 00:10:46,680 So you do block that missed flush draw, 190 00:10:46,860 --> 00:10:48,570 but you don't have two clubs in your hand, 191 00:10:48,571 --> 00:10:51,180 you just have Ace King you bet twice for whatever reason. 192 00:10:51,181 --> 00:10:53,850 It's something the solver would do here. So you get to this river, 193 00:10:53,860 --> 00:10:58,320 you have ace of clubs king on this queen seven deuce, 2 clubs board turn eight, 194 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,240 river three, flush misses. 195 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,070 So the ace of clubs does block their missed flush draws. However, 196 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:10,350 sometimes the solver will bluff with this hand on the river and I know 197 00:11:10,351 --> 00:11:12,960 Gary has a quick tangent for why that is. 198 00:11:14,340 --> 00:11:17,850 Gary: Yeah, sometimes the solver will bluff with one bad blocker, 199 00:11:17,851 --> 00:11:20,070 but having two is really bad. 200 00:11:20,370 --> 00:11:25,230 You'll rarely find the solver triple barrel in this spot with two bad blockers. 201 00:11:25,470 --> 00:11:27,450 Sometimes one is okay in certain spots, 202 00:11:27,451 --> 00:11:29,940 but having two bad blockers is a big no-no. 203 00:11:30,150 --> 00:11:33,540 And that doesn't only pertain to flush draws. 204 00:11:33,750 --> 00:11:37,140 If you think of another extreme example where your opponent's calling range is 205 00:11:37,410 --> 00:11:39,150 pocket jacks and pocket tens, 206 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,440 you can sometimes bluff with a hand like King ten or Queen ten or Queen Jack, 207 00:11:43,770 --> 00:11:46,410 but never with Jack ten. Not all the time, 208 00:11:46,411 --> 00:11:48,660 sometimes having one bad blocker is okay, 209 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,720 but generally bluffing with two is a big, big no-no. 210 00:11:52,930 --> 00:11:57,340 Mike: I think the reason the solver will still bluff with some of these ace of 211 00:11:57,700 --> 00:12:01,390 club's hands is put simply it needs more bluffs in its range. 212 00:12:01,420 --> 00:12:04,810 It reaches this river with quite a narrow range. We've three bet pre-flop, 213 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:07,090 bet flop, bet turn. Now we're considering betting river, 214 00:12:07,300 --> 00:12:10,240 our range is quite narrow and we have a wide value range. 215 00:12:10,250 --> 00:12:13,570 We're going to be jamming this river with Aces, kings, ace queen, sets. 216 00:12:13,780 --> 00:12:17,830 So a lot of value hands in our range and we need to balance those out with some 217 00:12:17,831 --> 00:12:22,180 bluffs and there just aren't that many bluffs that aren't missed flush draws or 218 00:12:22,181 --> 00:12:26,470 that have a single missed flush draw card in them. So I think, 219 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:30,130 and this is kind of a teaser to a situation we're going to talk about later, 220 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,700 I just think the solver, if it were a person would kind of say Here, 221 00:12:34,180 --> 00:12:37,120 I wish I didn't have the Ace of clubs here. It's probably not ideal. 222 00:12:37,450 --> 00:12:39,490 It does block their missed ace high flush draws, 223 00:12:39,940 --> 00:12:42,430 but I don't have so many bluffs to choose from. 224 00:12:42,460 --> 00:12:45,610 I can't be picky and I have to balance out my value range. 225 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,440 So I'm going to bluff with this hand too. 226 00:12:47,860 --> 00:12:50,110 One more interesting note about Ace King here. 227 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,350 So we have Lucid up on our screen. If you're listening, 228 00:12:53,351 --> 00:12:57,460 I'll just describe it to you on this river, the Ace King, 229 00:12:58,030 --> 00:12:59,740 no club, so a hand like ace of diamonds, 230 00:12:59,741 --> 00:13:02,830 king of hearts or a hand like ace of hearts, king of diamonds, 231 00:13:02,831 --> 00:13:07,210 which does get to this river sometimes in this line that hand actually checks, 232 00:13:08,050 --> 00:13:10,630 does not bluff. And at first you might think, 233 00:13:10,810 --> 00:13:13,780 I would think that hand would bluff because it doesn't block those missed flush 234 00:13:13,781 --> 00:13:18,310 draws. But if you dive a little deeper into the game tree using Lucid here, 235 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:19,750 I'm going to make the small blind check. 236 00:13:19,900 --> 00:13:21,520 Then I'm going to make the button go all in. 237 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,710 And if we look at how the small blind plays, 238 00:13:23,860 --> 00:13:28,720 the small blind actually check calls this river with those ace king hands. 239 00:13:28,721 --> 00:13:29,800 So ace of diamonds, 240 00:13:29,801 --> 00:13:34,000 king of hearts checks on this river with Ace high and then calls the jam. 241 00:13:34,060 --> 00:13:37,120 Same thing with several other of the Ace King offsuit combos that don't contain 242 00:13:37,121 --> 00:13:39,610 a club. Gary, you want to speculate as to why that is? 243 00:13:40,510 --> 00:13:42,370 Gary: The solver is just an animal. 244 00:13:42,371 --> 00:13:44,350 Sometimes the solver plays against the solver. 245 00:13:44,351 --> 00:13:46,630 It knows what the in position shoving range looks like. 246 00:13:46,631 --> 00:13:49,960 We're going to delve into that a little deeper ourselves in just a few minutes. 247 00:13:49,961 --> 00:13:54,100 But yeah, I mean it makes a lot of sense. It's bet the flop, it's bet the turn, 248 00:13:54,310 --> 00:13:58,870 it's made those decisions independently and then on the river it decides to 249 00:13:58,871 --> 00:14:01,960 check it's not a great bluffing candidate and then the button then moves all in 250 00:14:02,260 --> 00:14:05,470 and those Ace King combos unblock the button's bluffs. 251 00:14:05,471 --> 00:14:09,340 So even though it's just Ace High, it's a nice candidate for the solver to call. 252 00:14:09,341 --> 00:14:10,990 One last thing while we're off on this tangent. 253 00:14:11,350 --> 00:14:16,150 The solver doesn't differentiate between having a pair or Ace High or Queen high 254 00:14:16,151 --> 00:14:17,320 or two pair or a set. 255 00:14:17,770 --> 00:14:20,560 If its hand is strong enough and it's beating enough bluffs, 256 00:14:20,770 --> 00:14:23,650 the solver makes the call. There are no hand rankings in Solver Land. 257 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,430 If it's beating enough bluffs and it wins often enough, it elects to call, 258 00:14:27,431 --> 00:14:30,340 Ace High and top pair are the same thing for the solver. 259 00:14:30,341 --> 00:14:31,930 It doesn't differentiate between hands, 260 00:14:32,170 --> 00:14:34,120 it's whether or not his hand is profitable to call. 261 00:14:35,290 --> 00:14:36,970 Mike: Indeed, that's a great advanced note. 262 00:14:37,150 --> 00:14:40,900 One more note on this Ace King off call that is a little bit out of scope of the 263 00:14:40,901 --> 00:14:44,140 episode, but it is a fascinating one. I hope listeners are enjoying it. 264 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,950 So if we look at the shoving range for the button at equilibrium, 265 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:52,850 they're shoving with a lot of missed draws. So hands like Jack nine, 266 00:14:53,570 --> 00:14:54,860 Jack ten, ten nine, 267 00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:57,920 bunch of missed flush draws are going to be shoving the river as the button as 268 00:14:57,921 --> 00:15:01,820 well. And Ace King off beats all those hands put simply. Yeah, 269 00:15:01,821 --> 00:15:04,250 the solver does run into some value sometimes, 270 00:15:04,490 --> 00:15:07,820 it checks the river calls the all in with Ace King offsuit and it was just up 271 00:15:07,821 --> 00:15:11,210 against a queen and the button just got a ton of value against Ace High, 272 00:15:11,780 --> 00:15:15,890 but sometimes the button's going to just have that missed straight draw with ten 273 00:15:15,890 --> 00:15:18,830 nine or sometimes it's going to have the missed flush draw with a hand like Ace 274 00:15:18,831 --> 00:15:22,970 five suited and that's the situation where the Ace King off is going to win a 275 00:15:22,980 --> 00:15:26,750 huge pot with just Ace King High. Of course against your human opponents. 276 00:15:27,260 --> 00:15:30,950 They're probably not nearly as wide as the solver unless they're a very, 277 00:15:30,951 --> 00:15:32,480 very good strong player. 278 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,190 So is this the most practical advice if you play something like one three? No, 279 00:15:37,191 --> 00:15:40,850 but it is still very fascinating and it's interesting to learn about these 280 00:15:40,860 --> 00:15:44,600 mechanics and heuristics because even if they don't apply directly to your games 281 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,520 or the specifics of your environment, 282 00:15:46,670 --> 00:15:50,960 they can still be quite helpful in deepening your understanding of poker and 283 00:15:50,961 --> 00:15:54,800 that's going to help you make better decisions based on the specifics in your 284 00:15:54,801 --> 00:15:55,634 games. 285 00:15:56,210 --> 00:15:58,790 Gary: The whole episode that we're talking about today is we're talking about 286 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:00,020 blockers and the unblockers. 287 00:16:00,021 --> 00:16:04,310 We've just spoken about how Ace King unblocks the buttons bluffs. 288 00:16:04,610 --> 00:16:09,380 It also has the best of both worlds because it unblocks those bluffs but it also 289 00:16:09,381 --> 00:16:12,260 blocks the best Queen X that the button can have at the same time. 290 00:16:12,410 --> 00:16:15,350 So it's a wonderful check call combo if you really think about it. 291 00:16:15,620 --> 00:16:19,130 It unblocks bluffs, it blocks value, it makes the call with ace high. 292 00:16:19,820 --> 00:16:24,110 Mike: I do think I would consider this call against a somewhat loose strong 293 00:16:24,111 --> 00:16:24,944 player even, 294 00:16:25,820 --> 00:16:29,870 would I do it against some old guy or the old man coffee that people like to 295 00:16:29,871 --> 00:16:31,400 refer to online? Probably not. 296 00:16:31,610 --> 00:16:36,440 But if it's a decent seeming player who's probably playing somewhat 297 00:16:36,441 --> 00:16:39,950 loose against the three bet, calling with the proper hands on the flop and turn, 298 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,640 I think you can make a really sick call here with Ace King High and it's going 299 00:16:43,641 --> 00:16:46,580 to work out decently, but again, that's only against certain people. 300 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:52,310 Alright Gary, what is the third situation in which blockers really matter? 301 00:16:53,030 --> 00:16:55,250 Gary: So let's talk a little bit about pre-flop things. Now, 302 00:16:55,251 --> 00:16:57,950 when choosing your pre-flop four bet bluffs, 303 00:16:57,951 --> 00:17:01,760 we can look at a variety of scenarios starting off with under the gun versus 304 00:17:01,761 --> 00:17:05,630 middle position. Let's say under the gun opens, middle position three bets, 305 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:10,160 under the gun is going to four bet a lot of hands that may be surprising to some 306 00:17:10,161 --> 00:17:13,730 of our listeners. Ace Queen suited, Ace Jack suited, 307 00:17:13,731 --> 00:17:18,380 Ace ten suited the Ace is really important in these narrow range 308 00:17:18,381 --> 00:17:23,090 scenarios because you really want to block your opponent's strongest hands like 309 00:17:23,120 --> 00:17:28,010 Aces and Ace King. You four bet very little Jack ten, queen ten, 310 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:29,061 Queen Jack, 311 00:17:29,061 --> 00:17:32,930 all these types of hands because your blockers when you hold Jack ten and Queen 312 00:17:32,931 --> 00:17:36,470 ten and Queen Jack, they're not as good in this super tight scenario. 313 00:17:36,770 --> 00:17:38,210 So you really want to have really, 314 00:17:38,211 --> 00:17:40,850 really nice blockers when choosing your four bet bluffs. 315 00:17:41,090 --> 00:17:42,920 Having an ace is extremely important. 316 00:17:44,060 --> 00:17:46,550 Mike: It makes sense that Jack ten suited wouldn't want a four bet, right? 317 00:17:46,551 --> 00:17:51,240 Because when you think about what a player might be three betting against a 318 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,840 raise that isn't super strong, it's going to be the queen jack suited, 319 00:17:54,930 --> 00:17:59,610 the Jack nine suited the Jack ten suited. So by having Jack ten suited yourself, 320 00:17:59,910 --> 00:18:03,930 you weigh them more towards those really high card hands like the Ace King, 321 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,870 Ace Queen, Queens, Aces kings, et cetera. 322 00:18:07,470 --> 00:18:10,560 So you just want to have an ace or a king yourself. 323 00:18:10,561 --> 00:18:13,290 That's why King Queen suited does some four betting as well. 324 00:18:13,291 --> 00:18:15,450 Gary didn't mention that one, but it does like to get in there. 325 00:18:15,810 --> 00:18:19,350 King Jack suited even likes to get in there a bit, blocking Ace King, 326 00:18:19,351 --> 00:18:22,290 Kings and Jacks. Ace Jack suited, Ace ten suited, 327 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,250 Ace five suited and Ace four suited are kind of the classic four bet bluffs that 328 00:18:26,251 --> 00:18:29,280 a lot of people like to mix in that it's almost a meme at this point how much 329 00:18:29,281 --> 00:18:33,540 the solver likes Ace five suited and indeed in this situation the Ace five 330 00:18:33,541 --> 00:18:36,300 suited four bets a very, very chunky percentage of the time, 331 00:18:36,301 --> 00:18:38,550 over half the time against this three bet. 332 00:18:38,790 --> 00:18:43,380 So you really want to be composing your four bet bluffing range around these 333 00:18:43,381 --> 00:18:44,910 hands that have good blockers. 334 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:45,961 Gary: Yeah, 335 00:18:45,961 --> 00:18:49,260 let's move around the table a little bit now to some wider range scenarios. 336 00:18:49,590 --> 00:18:53,250 Say cutoff versus button. The cutoff opens, the button three bets, 337 00:18:53,251 --> 00:18:55,860 we're going to take a little look at the cutoffs four bet range here, 338 00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:59,250 we can see that the four bet bluff range widens a lot here, 339 00:18:59,251 --> 00:19:03,300 but still very Ace x heavy. Lots of ace queen offsuit now, 340 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,240 some pre-flop charts have got Ace Jack offsuit as well. 341 00:19:06,241 --> 00:19:08,850 Even more of these strong ace jack, ace ten suited, 342 00:19:08,851 --> 00:19:12,510 the frequencies are going up and then you've got Ace five and Ace four suited as 343 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:17,070 well, but crucially still very little, ten nine, Jack ten, 344 00:19:17,071 --> 00:19:20,430 queen ten and so on. Given the wideness of both players ranges, 345 00:19:20,431 --> 00:19:24,420 you'll see Jack ten suited four betting a little more than under the gun versus 346 00:19:24,421 --> 00:19:26,610 middle position, but still not very often. 347 00:19:26,611 --> 00:19:30,690 Overall blocking the absolute strongest parts of your opponent's range is really 348 00:19:30,691 --> 00:19:34,380 important here while still allowing for some playability post flop. 349 00:19:34,381 --> 00:19:36,750 If you four bet ace ten suited and get called, 350 00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:39,930 your flush draws will dominate your opponent's flush draws. 351 00:19:39,930 --> 00:19:42,690 When you four bet the Ace five suited, you flop a wheel draw, 352 00:19:42,691 --> 00:19:44,970 you've got that gut shot, you've got your Ace as an out, 353 00:19:44,971 --> 00:19:46,140 you've got a backdoor flush draw. 354 00:19:46,150 --> 00:19:48,870 All these types of flops are pretty good for you in a four bet pot. 355 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:52,710 It's really important that we are choosing some hands that might look like just 356 00:19:52,711 --> 00:19:56,250 pure calls and we add those to our four bet bluffing range. 357 00:19:56,251 --> 00:19:58,650 And the reason for that: good blockers. 358 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,550 Mike: The common thread between these three scenarios where blockers have 359 00:20:02,551 --> 00:20:06,270 mattered is narrow ranges. We were talking about the river scenarios. 360 00:20:06,271 --> 00:20:10,410 Those are kind of the most obvious examples of narrow range spots because it 361 00:20:10,411 --> 00:20:12,660 takes several decision points to get to the river. 362 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:16,050 But pre-flop four betting is very similar. You've opened, 363 00:20:16,230 --> 00:20:19,170 your opponent has chosen to attack your open. 364 00:20:19,230 --> 00:20:22,980 You've said I have a hand worth playing by raising, they've said, 365 00:20:22,981 --> 00:20:25,200 I see that you have a hand worth playing and I don't care, I'm reraising. 366 00:20:26,370 --> 00:20:30,420 So they've already narrowed their range quite a bit with that three bet and now 367 00:20:30,450 --> 00:20:35,040 it's back on you and it's a very narrow range spot. So blockers matter. 368 00:20:35,041 --> 00:20:38,100 So that's a big takeaway and you're going to notice the opposite in the 369 00:20:38,110 --> 00:20:40,500 situations we're about to go over where blockers don't matter. 370 00:20:40,770 --> 00:20:42,570 When ranges are narrow, 371 00:20:42,690 --> 00:20:46,170 blockers are super important and should drive your strategy, 372 00:20:46,410 --> 00:20:48,280 especially when bluffing and bluff catching. 373 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,350 Moving on Gary to the part of the episode that I think people who hate blockers 374 00:20:53,351 --> 00:20:56,470 are going to like, when blockers don't matter, 375 00:20:56,500 --> 00:21:00,850 what is the first situation in which you should all but disregard blockers? 376 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,320 Gary: Let's talk a little bit about exploitative poker. Now picture the scene, 377 00:21:05,321 --> 00:21:08,680 you're on the river, there's three spades on the board. Your opponent bets. 378 00:21:08,681 --> 00:21:10,810 You've got ace high with the ace of spades, 379 00:21:11,110 --> 00:21:14,500 you've got enough behind to go all in and still have good fold equity. 380 00:21:14,890 --> 00:21:17,080 It seems like a great spot to shove all in as a bluff here. 381 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:19,870 What if your opponent is a massive calling station? 382 00:21:19,871 --> 00:21:23,350 He's never folding a baby flush. Hell, he's never folding two pair. 383 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,710 In theory this will likely be a great spot to shove it in, 384 00:21:26,740 --> 00:21:30,340 but exploitatively just folding is going to be the best play. 385 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:35,080 A lot of people are too theory oriented and just focus on what the solver would 386 00:21:35,081 --> 00:21:38,230 do, but you have to think about your opponent's tendencies, 387 00:21:38,231 --> 00:21:41,680 particularly if we're playing live. There are some big, 388 00:21:41,710 --> 00:21:43,210 big calling stations out there, 389 00:21:43,211 --> 00:21:48,100 bluff those guys a whole lot less even with your good bluffs and instead 390 00:21:48,110 --> 00:21:51,280 exploit these players by taking them to value town instead. 391 00:21:52,030 --> 00:21:53,860 Mike: I think in a lot of these spots too, 392 00:21:53,980 --> 00:21:58,780 sometimes these calling station passive players will have 393 00:21:58,781 --> 00:22:02,500 narrowed their range to only hands that will call, 394 00:22:02,590 --> 00:22:06,610 which makes bluffing really, really bad. So for example, Gary just used, 395 00:22:06,790 --> 00:22:08,230 it's a three spade board. 396 00:22:08,380 --> 00:22:10,240 It doesn't really matter what the specific scenario is, 397 00:22:10,241 --> 00:22:13,690 but let's say a couple bets have one in post flop so your opponent's not messing 398 00:22:13,691 --> 00:22:15,250 around, right? We're not in a wide range spot, 399 00:22:15,251 --> 00:22:19,150 we're in a fairly narrow range spot and your opponent who's generally pretty 400 00:22:19,151 --> 00:22:22,450 passive and kind of a calling station decides to bet, 401 00:22:22,690 --> 00:22:24,250 let's say decently big on the river. 402 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:29,140 A lot of players especially live when they've taken those actions, 403 00:22:29,150 --> 00:22:33,220 they've reached a narrow range spot on a scary board and they've bet big, 404 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,550 they probably just have a quite good hand. 405 00:22:36,580 --> 00:22:39,040 They probably just have two pair of better. Maybe they don't even bet two pair. 406 00:22:39,130 --> 00:22:41,320 Maybe the range is just sets and flushes. 407 00:22:41,830 --> 00:22:44,080 And then let's say you just look down and you're like, oh man, 408 00:22:44,081 --> 00:22:47,770 I have the perfect bluffing combo. This is the perfect blocker. 409 00:22:47,771 --> 00:22:51,310 I just learned from Gary and Mike a few minutes ago that narrow range spots, 410 00:22:51,311 --> 00:22:55,000 I'm supposed to be bluffing with this blocker and you decide to go all in and 411 00:22:55,001 --> 00:22:59,560 then they snap you off with a set or a small flush that in theory they should 412 00:22:59,561 --> 00:23:03,070 consider folding but they're a calling station. So they just call it. 413 00:23:03,430 --> 00:23:07,780 And then not only that, they've narrowed their range to only be those hands. 414 00:23:07,781 --> 00:23:09,460 They wouldn't have bet with anything else. 415 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,350 So you're essentially bluffing into a range that is never folding. 416 00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:15,580 You're just saying, Hey buddy, 417 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,460 you can have all my chips or I'm going to double you up. I don't need 'em. 418 00:23:18,461 --> 00:23:23,410 I'm just going to follow theory blindly and pay you off despite the fact that 419 00:23:23,411 --> 00:23:25,150 you don't really deserve to be paid off. 420 00:23:25,150 --> 00:23:29,560 You're playing in a way that doesn't necessitate you 421 00:23:29,590 --> 00:23:32,740 bluffing in this way. They don't have a balanced range. 422 00:23:32,860 --> 00:23:36,460 They're not making some hero folds, so you don't need to bluff them. 423 00:23:36,461 --> 00:23:40,450 You could just adjust your strategy. Only jam in that situation for value. 424 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,940 Maybe if you still want to mix in a handful of bluffs, 425 00:23:42,941 --> 00:23:46,640 maybe you could do it a tiny microscopic percentage of the time just if it makes 426 00:23:46,641 --> 00:23:47,474 you feel a little better. 427 00:23:47,780 --> 00:23:51,260 But for the most part you want to be value heavy and you want to make sure that 428 00:23:51,261 --> 00:23:53,900 when you're sticking in all that money against their range that probably isn't 429 00:23:53,901 --> 00:23:58,040 folding, you have a hand that beats their calling range over 50% of the time. 430 00:23:58,190 --> 00:24:00,350 It's that simple. Alright Gary, 431 00:24:00,351 --> 00:24:05,000 what is the second situation in which players overrate the value of blockers? 432 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,190 Gary: On the flop in single raised pots where ranges are really wide, 433 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,190 people tend to get this specific scenario we're going to talk about the wrong 434 00:24:13,191 --> 00:24:15,350 way round. Say it's button versus big blind, 435 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,040 you're on the button and the flop is ten eight five with two clubs, 436 00:24:19,041 --> 00:24:21,500 you're supposed to check your pocket Aces here sometimes, 437 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,590 some people will check with a club and bet without a club. 438 00:24:25,010 --> 00:24:28,490 They think that having the Ace of clubs is bad here because they quote unquote 439 00:24:29,210 --> 00:24:32,150 block their opponent's flush draws. This is a single raised pot, 440 00:24:32,151 --> 00:24:36,050 you've opened on the button, the big blind has called, ranges are really wide, 441 00:24:36,380 --> 00:24:38,720 your opponent has infinite flush draws here. 442 00:24:38,750 --> 00:24:42,800 You bet with the club yourself because you want to have that little bit extra 443 00:24:42,801 --> 00:24:46,580 equity. As well as that, blocking a hand that's got nine outs, 444 00:24:46,581 --> 00:24:50,990 which is around 35% equity versus your pair is pretty good. 445 00:24:51,290 --> 00:24:53,990 So in this scenario where there are two clubs and one diamond on the board, 446 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,160 bet more often with your strong hands that have the backdoor flush draw, 447 00:24:58,190 --> 00:25:02,270 don't worry about blocking your opponent's flush draws. Both ranges are so wide, 448 00:25:02,271 --> 00:25:05,990 your opponent's got infinite flush draws and you having one club in your hand 449 00:25:05,991 --> 00:25:08,510 here for example, you actually block so little. 450 00:25:09,410 --> 00:25:09,770 Mike: Yeah, 451 00:25:09,770 --> 00:25:13,790 put simply you want to build the pot a little bit more with your Aces when you 452 00:25:13,791 --> 00:25:17,960 have the club on this two club board because it's a higher value pair of Aces. 453 00:25:17,961 --> 00:25:20,780 You'd rather have the ace of clubs on a ten eight five, 454 00:25:20,780 --> 00:25:24,200 2 clubs board with your pocket Aces than not have it because if the turn's a 455 00:25:24,201 --> 00:25:25,370 club you don't hate it so much. 456 00:25:25,371 --> 00:25:30,290 Whereas if you have red Aces and the turn is a club, it's not as fun. So yeah, 457 00:25:30,291 --> 00:25:31,460 great point from Gary there. 458 00:25:31,461 --> 00:25:36,170 We're going to want to steer towards betting with the 459 00:25:36,171 --> 00:25:38,960 single club in these spots with an overpair. And again, 460 00:25:38,961 --> 00:25:42,080 this is a wide range spot, blockers just aren't as important. 461 00:25:42,081 --> 00:25:46,790 It's a more holistic, simple game in this scenario. Blockers do play a role, 462 00:25:46,820 --> 00:25:50,480 don't get me wrong, but not nearly as much as just the value of your hand, 463 00:25:50,481 --> 00:25:53,210 the equity of your hand and how your ranges match up against each other. 464 00:25:54,740 --> 00:25:58,520 Before we wrap this thing up with the third situation in which you should pretty 465 00:25:58,521 --> 00:26:01,820 much forget blockers exist, attention tournament players, 466 00:26:01,821 --> 00:26:05,720 you have about a week left to take advantage of the World Series of Tournament 467 00:26:05,721 --> 00:26:07,370 Sale at upswingpoker.com. 468 00:26:07,380 --> 00:26:12,170 If you've considered upgrading your game with a course made by an elite player, 469 00:26:12,380 --> 00:26:14,540 now is the time to get off the fence. 470 00:26:15,020 --> 00:26:19,130 All of the courses and bundles currently on sale were made by pros who have won 471 00:26:19,131 --> 00:26:23,450 literally tens of millions of dollars in tournaments. I didn't misspeak, 472 00:26:23,451 --> 00:26:25,040 tens of millions in profit. 473 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:30,260 Get between 30 and 51% off right now by going to upswingpoker.com and clicking 474 00:26:30,261 --> 00:26:32,060 the banner at the top of the screen. 475 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,650 Best time of the year to upgrade your tournament skills. Alright, Gary, 476 00:26:36,651 --> 00:26:37,440 let's get into it. 477 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,480 The third and final spot in which blockers don't really matter. 478 00:26:41,990 --> 00:26:45,210 Gary: We're going to use the exact same board and positions as we did earlier 479 00:26:45,211 --> 00:26:47,820 today. Small blind versus button three bet pot, 480 00:26:47,821 --> 00:26:52,200 the small blind is bet the flop and the turn and is now checked on the river. 481 00:26:52,470 --> 00:26:56,640 Earlier the small blinds blockers really mattered when selecting which combos to 482 00:26:56,650 --> 00:26:57,660 triple barrel with. 483 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,290 Now let's look at the other side of the coin and about why the button having 484 00:27:01,291 --> 00:27:05,760 clubs does not matter. IE the buttons blockers are not relevant. 485 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,000 The small blind doesn't want to shove clubs on the river because they block the 486 00:27:09,001 --> 00:27:12,870 button's hands that fold and the small blind has a lot of other bluff combos to 487 00:27:12,871 --> 00:27:13,860 choose from here. 488 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,820 Now the button probably doesn't want to shove clubs here because it blocks the 489 00:27:17,821 --> 00:27:21,690 small blinds folds, but the difference is the button has no choice. 490 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,280 The button's range here is so heavily defined by the fact that they have called 491 00:27:26,281 --> 00:27:27,900 the flop and called the turn. 492 00:27:28,110 --> 00:27:32,400 It removes virtually everything else from their range and they're now forced to 493 00:27:32,401 --> 00:27:35,460 bluff with flush draws here because they've got nothing else. 494 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,930 Some players live by this mantra of I can't ever bluff with a missed flush draw. 495 00:27:39,931 --> 00:27:41,310 And sometimes it is true. 496 00:27:41,311 --> 00:27:43,710 We saw earlier from the point of view of the small blind, 497 00:27:44,010 --> 00:27:45,150 but as we can see here, 498 00:27:45,151 --> 00:27:49,650 it's equally important that we ignore that in the right situations where our 499 00:27:49,651 --> 00:27:52,650 blockers don't matter and we bluff those missed flush draws. 500 00:27:52,950 --> 00:27:57,060 There's just so little else for us to bluff with here that we're forced to bluff 501 00:27:57,061 --> 00:27:57,894 with our missed flush draws. 502 00:27:59,460 --> 00:28:00,570 Mike: Yeah, it's like I said earlier, 503 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:05,580 sometimes your range is so narrow and you have so few potential bluffing 504 00:28:05,581 --> 00:28:09,840 hands in your range that you just can't be picky. If you have jack high, 505 00:28:10,710 --> 00:28:14,190 you have no showdown value. You have to balance out your value range. 506 00:28:14,191 --> 00:28:17,490 You can't only shove with value unless you're up against that guy we were 507 00:28:17,491 --> 00:28:18,660 talking about a few minutes ago. 508 00:28:19,020 --> 00:28:22,980 So you have to bluff with that jack ten of clubs. Yeah, 509 00:28:22,981 --> 00:28:26,580 it's not ideal that you block their missed flush draws that are going to fold, 510 00:28:26,910 --> 00:28:28,230 but what else are you going to do? 511 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,280 You have to bluff with something and you have so few bluffs to choose from. 512 00:28:32,460 --> 00:28:35,400 You just don't have the luxury of being picky. 513 00:28:35,401 --> 00:28:38,490 So we bluff with these missed flush draws and hands that block their folds 514 00:28:38,491 --> 00:28:41,370 sometimes simply because we don't really have much of a choice. 515 00:28:41,370 --> 00:28:43,230 We don't have other bluffs to choose from. 516 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,090 Thanks a ton for listening to this very nerdy episode about blockers. 517 00:28:48,091 --> 00:28:50,220 I knew it was going to be nerdy going in, but dang. 518 00:28:50,221 --> 00:28:53,730 Did we go on some nerdy tangents? Hope you enjoyed it. 519 00:28:53,731 --> 00:28:57,840 Hope you found the extra nerdy out of scope stuff interesting at the very least, 520 00:28:58,020 --> 00:29:01,230 and I'm sure you found that blocker advice helpful. 521 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,380 Good luck putting it into use during your next session. 522 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,240 We'll see you in the next episode of Upswing Level Up. 523 00:29:06,241 --> 00:29:08,520 We might be taking a few week break, but we'll see you soon.