76o BB on A83fd: Bluffing Wrong Hands

Hero: 6♣7♦
Position: BB vs SB
Pot: Limped Pot
Flop: 8♥ 3♥ A♠

We picked a low-equity hand to bluff the flop and then tried to bluff-catch/value-own ourselves on the river into a short stack that mostly has better made hands.

Flop Analysis

On A83hh, SB has all the Ax/8x and plenty of heart draws; our 76 with no heart is near the bottom of range. Leading for 3BB into 2.5BB versus a short stack picks a poor bluff candidate and a size that commits us when called. Solver-style play stabs here mainly with better backdoors or stronger draws and checks/folds this type of hand.

Note: C-betting 76o with no heart on A83hh into a short-stacked limper is a low-EV stab; this hand should mostly be checked and often folded facing aggression.

Turn Analysis

Turn 6d gives us a weak pair at an SPR under 1 after our flop bet gets called. Given SB’s range is now heavily Ax/8x/strong draws, our 6 is not strong enough to pile money in. Checking is correct; versus a shove we’re usually crushed, so folding would be standard.

River Analysis

River 3d pairs the bottom card; our hand is now 6s and 3s, which still loses to any Ax or 8x and most 3x that continues. SB’s short stack means they rarely fold top pair or even decent 8x to an overbet. This is a classic bluff-catcher spot where we should check and mostly fold, not overbet into a range that dominates us.

Note: Overbetting river with a dominated two pair versus a 10BB stack is spewy; this hand should be checked and usually folded rather than turning it into an optimistic bluff/value bet.