This video is from the early days of the famous poker player Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, where his poker bluff went terribly wrong. This may leave you in splits but also teach you an important strategy about bluffing.
Watch the Video Below
What Went Wrong?
Everything!!!
It was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Preflop
Blom raises to 3000 chips with K♦ 2♦. Munz 3-bets 9000 chips with A♥ 7♠, and Blom calls.
Flop
A♦ A♣ 3♣
Blom checks on the flop, which is the right strategy.
Munz hits a Trips A♥ A♦ A♣ and c-bets 9000 chips.
Blom check-raises and bluffs with a huge overbet of 58,000 chips to represent a Trips. From Blom’s perspective, this is not a wrong strategy as a huge check-raise represents an Ace with a better kicker.
However, Munz re-raises to 116,000 chips. Now, this should ring alarm bells! Munz was an amateur player at that time; as he re-raises to 116,000 chips, it gives out a clear indication that he is holding an ace. Blom should use this solid information and fold.
But Blom goes all-in with 231,000 chips. Munz calls and knocks Blom out of the tournament. To add insult to the injury, Munz laughs out loud.
What can we learn from this bluff?
- Always know your opponent before you bluff. Munz was an amateur player at that time, and such bluffs would never work on him. The all-in bluff move represents only two hands – a pair of threes or an ace with a better kicker. This bluff could have worked on a more experienced player who would have thought of such monsters. But since Munz was a relatively amateur player, he was probably incapable of guessing such monsters.
- The check-raise bluff was not a wrong move. The check-raise should have been used as both bluff and information bet. Munz re-raising gives away solid information that he holds an ace, and he is not likely to fold the hand.
- Blom could have called the re-raise on the river, and if any club had hit the board, he could have had a better chance at bluffing.
What do you think about this bluff? Leave a comment below!
