Lesson
Building a Bluff-Blocker Framework Before Trusting the Solver
Blockers & Card Removal · advanced · 12 min
Tyler walks Eric through building a river bluff-catching framework before checking it against GTO Wizard. The lesson focuses on ranking call-down candidates by pair strength, blockers, unblockers, and how specific cards interact with missed diamond draws and value hands.
Key takeaways
- Start by identifying whether villain can still have top-pair-plus value; if so, hands with a ten or better get priority over pairs below ten.
- List the likely turn barrels and missed river bluffs, especially diamond draws such as queen-jack, queen-nine, jack-nine, king-jack, and king-queen of diamonds.
- Avoid bluff-catching with cards that block villain's missed bluffs; holding a diamond, especially the queen, jack, or king of diamonds, can make a call worse.
- Consider whether your pair card blocks value: a seven can be relevant if villain barrels hands like seven-six or eight-seven that improve on later streets.
- Use solver outputs to check your assumptions, but focus practically on calling the hands that clearly make money rather than forcing close solver calls like ace-four or ace-five.