Cash Game Strategy: Bluffers vs Chasers

Posted by ashutoshnaik on 2019-04-25 at 7:07 AM

In continuation of my previous blog on cash games :

Cash Game Bankroll Management

Today, I would like to talk about:

Bluffers vs Chasers

There are 2 types of cash game villains I have come across – the bluffers vs the chasers. A Bluffer is someone who will attempt to bluff you off a strong hand, especially if he senses a bit of weakness or fear, whereas a chaser will not attempt to bluff you but play sub-optimal cards against sub-optimal odds and make the big river bet in the end, which looks like a bluff but is actually a value bet 🙂

Let me illustrate with an example:

Lets say you have KQ and the flop is K 2 3. Great flop for you, you have already bet preflop and and are now betting the flop. The turn is a Q, Now u have top 2 pair and nothing to worry, you make an even bigger bet on the turn. The villian calls. The river is a 5. Harmless card right, You bet even more, but suddenly the villian goes all IN. What happened here is that the villian chased his gut shot with hole cards of 46. This is a typical CHASER, you will see enough examples of these in live games, especially among amateurs, and also Teen patti players. If you are playing with the same player more than once, and observe this pattern, and especially if it looks like a teen patti player, or a recreational player , you are most definitely beat and should consider finding a FOLD somewhere inside you on the river.

Now consider you are against a BLUFFER. You bet the flop, the villian is likely to reraise you on the flop or turn. BLUFFERS are usually good players with understanding of the board texture, betting patterns. Lets say a flush or an open ender completed on the turn or river, and if you raised preflop, they pretty much would narrow your range to high cards. and would try to get you off the hand by representing the straight or the flush. The hand I discussed previously ( KQ) was an extreme example, but consider the fact that if you raised preflop with AA and the board is 6s 7s 8 Ts J , a BLUFFER would like to take a stab at the pot, and put you on high cards, aces, kings or bigger pairs, this type of a player is more dangerous to play against. A good counter measure to adopt against such a player is to raise the same amount with all cards, from suited connectors to good pairs. IF you bet 1000 with suited connectors, and 1500-2000 with JJ+, your range could be polarised, unless of course you mix it up.

Whenever I encounter this type of a situation in my play, I ask myself, Is this guy capable of bluffing the river ? Maybe not, because of course its easy to say but it needs courage and balls to make a big river bluff especially when you have shown so much strength already. So if a bluff is more or less ruled out, Well, Is he capable of chasing a gutshot despite no pot or implied odds ? If I feel yes, I will try to find a FOLD somewhere inside me. Well, it doesn’t always work, but that’s the thought process anyway 🙂

Until next time

Cheers
Ashutosh

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