Blockers: How Your Cards Change Theirs
A Blocker Is A Card In Your Hand That Makes Certain Hands Impossible Or Less Likely For Your Opponent: Holding One Ace Cuts Your Opponent's Ace King Combinations From 16 To 12, Which Makes Some Bluffs And Calls Better Than They Look.
Theory Lesson From Smarter.Poker, Updated
How Blocking Works
Each Card Exists Once In The Deck. If It Is In Your Hand, It Cannot Be In Your Opponent's. Ace King Can Be Dealt 16 Ways; If You Hold An Ace, Your Opponent Can Hold It Only 12 Ways, And If You Hold An Ace And A King, Only 9. Pocket Aces Can Be Dealt 6 Ways, And Only 3 If You Hold One Ace.
The Effect Is Sharpest With Flushes. On A Board With Three Spades, A Player Holding The Ace Of Spades Knows The Opponent Cannot Hold The Ace High Flush, And Removes All 9 Combinations Of The Ace Of Spades With Another Spade From Their Range.
| Opponent Hand | You Hold | Combinations Left |
|---|---|---|
| AK | Nothing Relevant | 16 |
| AK | One Ace | 12 |
| AK | An Ace And A King | 9 |
| AA | One Ace | 3 |
| KK | One King | 3 |
Choosing Bluffs With Blockers
A Good Bluff Blocks The Hands That Would Call It And Does Not Block The Hands That Would Fold. On A River Where A Flush Completed, Bluffing With The Ace Of The Suit Is Attractive, Because It Removes The Strongest Flushes From Your Opponent's Range, While Hands With No Card Of The Suit Leave All Of Them In.
Before The Flop, The Same Logic Makes Suited Aces Such As A5s And A4s Popular Four Bet Bluffs. The Ace Blocks Pocket Aces And Ace King, The Hands That Continue Most Strongly Against A Four Bet, And The Suit And The Wheel Give The Hand Some Equity When It Is Called.
Calling With Blockers
A Good Bluff Catcher Blocks The Value Hands And Does Not Block The Bluffs. If Your Opponent Would Bet The River With Sets And A Missed Flush Draw, A Hand That Holds One Of The Board Pair Or A Set Card Makes Their Value Hands Less Likely, While A Hand Holding A Card Of The Missed Flush Suit Makes Their Bluffs Less Likely And Should Be More Careful.
Keep The Effect In Proportion. Blockers Change A Range By A Few Combinations, Which Is Decisive Only In Close Spots. They Are A Tiebreaker Between Hands Of Similar Strength, Not A Reason To Call With A Hand That Is Beaten By Everything Your Opponent Bets For Value.
Keep Learning
- Counting Poker Hand Combinations
- What To Do When You Face A 3-Bet
- How Often A Bluff Must Work
- Mixed Strategies And Frequencies
Poker Terms In This Lesson
Practise It On Smarter.Poker
The Answer Above Is Complete. When You Want To Drill It, These Are The Matching Training Tools.
- Play Blocker Logic The Training Game For This Lesson.
- Open Jarvis Training Insights Jarvis Explains Your Training Decisions In Words.
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