Lesson
Bluff-to-Value Ratios and the River Give-Up
River Bluffing · advanced · 9 min
Tyler breaks down how to build a multi-street bluffing range from flop to river using bluff-to-value ratios, combo counting, and blocker effects. The lesson focuses on an Ace-Queen-9 type board where low 9x and some 6x become better river bluff candidates, while hands with showdown value or cards that block folds should often check.
Key takeaways
- Use rough geometric bluff-to-value targets as a starting point: about 2.5 bluffs per value bet on the flop, 1.5 on the turn, and 0.5 on the river.
- Backtrack from your river value range to estimate how many bluff combos you are allowed to arrive with.
- Prefer river bluffs with little or no showdown value; if a hand can win at showdown, checking is often better.
- Choose bluff combos that do not block the opponent's folding range; on this runout, avoid holding spades because Ax and Qx of spades are hands you want villain to fold.
- Low 9x hands can be useful bluff candidates because they reduce the opponent's calling combinations such as two pair.