.jpg "The Advanced Double Barrel Bluff Strategy")
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
In order to be a winning poker player these days, it’s not enough to just wait around for the nuts and get paid off.
You also need to know how to pick up a few pots even without the best hand, i.e. to bluff effectively. In other words, you need to work on improving your “red line”, aka your non-showdown winnings.
In this article, you will learn all about the advanced double barrel bluffing technique, which is guaranteed to improve your non-showdown winnings.
This is an advanced poker technique, but there will be example hands throughout the article to better illustrate the points and make learning easier.
With that said, let’s get right into it.
What is a Double Barrel Bluff?
When you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or a c-bet for short) on the flop.
If your opponent calls your c-bet, you can continue the aggression on the turn, i.e. to “fire another barrel”, hence the term “double barrel”.
If you make a turn c-bet with the intention of getting your opponent to fold, this is known as a double barrel bluff.
For example:
You raise preflop with A♠️K♥️,
Flop comes: J♦️8♣️4♥️, you bet.
Turn comes: 3♦️, you bet again!
Here are a few reasons why you should incorporate a double barrel bluff like this (sometimes), into your arsenal.
A Double barrel bluff is a great advanced poker technique because it puts a lot of pressure on your opponent.
If you’re playing low stakes poker games, you will encounter a lot of players who simply won’t be too comfortable putting a lot of chips in the middle without a really strong hand.
And since it’s quite rare to have a strong hand in no-limit hold’em, you can often get a lot of weak to mediocre hands to fold with a well-timed double barrel.
Another reason double barrel bluffing is effective is the fact that your bluff tells a believable story.
In other words, you can credibly represent a lot of strong hands, since you’ve shown strength throughout the hand: first by being the preflop aggressor, then betting the flop, and then betting the turn.
Bluffing the turn would be less effective if you skipped the flop c-bet, for example.
Finally, by incorporating a double barrel bluff into your arsenal, you are making yourself more difficult to play against.
If you balance your turn betting range with a few well-timed bluffs, your opponents will have a hard time of putting you on your exact hand.
A lot of players make the mistake of playing the turn too straightforwardly, which leaves them vulnerable to getting exploited.
If you only ever bet the turn with strong hands, more observant opponents may take notice and stop giving you action any time you bet the turn.
By adding a few bluffs on the turn, you are avoiding the common pitfall of being “turn honest”, which is a common leak especially at the lower stakes.
If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can quickly identify turn honest players by checking the difference between their flop and turn c-betting frequencies.
Check out my article on the 15 best HUD stats for PokerTracker 4 for more info on the topic.
Also, make sure to check out my recent video for the simple trick I use to bluff them out (almost) every time.
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Now that you know why double barrel bluffing is important, let’s break down the 4 spots where you should actually fire that second shell.
1. Double Barrel Bluff When You Pick Up Equity
As a general rule, semibluffing is preferable to stone cold bluffing. That’s why you should consider double barrel bluffing when you pick up some sort of equity on the turn.
Semibluffing means bluffing when you don’t have a made hand yet, but can potentially make a strong hand combination on future streets if you hit one of your outs.
Stone-cold bluffing means that you can only win the hand if your opponent folds.
Therefore, semibluffing gives you more ways to win the hand. You can either win the hand outright if your opponent folds, or you can win an even bigger pot if you manage to hit one of your outs.
In other words, you have some hand equity to fall back on in case your bluff gets called.
This means it’s usually a good idea to consider a double barrel when a turn card gives you some sort of a draw.
The stronger your draw, the more aggressively you should play it.
For example, if you are drawing to the nuts (i.e. the strongest possible combination on a given board), semibluffing is more than likely to be +EV (i.e. to have a positive expected value).
Check out my other articles on how to play flush draws and how to play straight draws like the pros for a much deeper dive.
Conversely, if you’re not drawing to the nuts, a double barrel is less likely to be +EV, because your opponent could have picked up a stronger draw.
This means you need to take the reverse implied odds into account.
Implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets if your draw completes.
Reverse implied odds refer to the amount of money you can lose if your draw completes, but your opponent ends up having an even stronger hand.
This means you need to take your opponent’s range into account as well.
If a turn card is likely to give your opponent a lot of potential draws, they’re less likely to fold to your double barrel.
Now let’s look at an example hand where a double barrel is likely to be +EV.
Double Barrel Bluff Example Hand #1
You are dealt A♥4♥ in the CO (cutoff). You open-raise to 2.5 BB.
Villain calls from the SB (small blind).
Pot: 6 BB
Flop: K♣2♥8♠
Villain checks. You c-bet 3 BB. Villain calls.
Pot: 12 BB
Turn: 5♥
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should bet (double barrel) 10 BB.
This is a textbook spot to attempt a double barrel bluff. Let’s break down the action street by street to see why.
Preflop you have a standard open-raise with a decent speculative hand. Small suited Aces have great playability post flop due to their great nuts potential, and can be played profitably from the cutoff.
You missed the flop, but the board is bone-dry, so your opponent could have easily missed the flop as well.
The drier the board texture, the less likely it is for your opponent to connect with the flop in some meaningful way.
Since you have the initiative and the range advantage, you can make a light c-bet in this spot.
A light c-bet (as opposed to a value c-bet) is a c-bet made with the intention of getting your opponent to fold.
You also have a backdoor straight and flush draws, so you have some equity to fall back on in case your c-bet gets called.
A backdoor draw means you need both turn AND river cards to complete your draw.
Your hand does not improve on the turn, and you still only have Ace-high, but you pick up a huge chunk of equity.
Now you’re one heart away from the nuts flush, and you have an inside straight draw as well.
This brings you a total of 12 outs (9 hearts and 3 Fours).
By the way, you can quickly calculate the percentage chance of your draw completing by using the so-called rule of fours.
Rule of fours: simply multiply the number of outs you have by 4 to get a rough percentage chance of your draw competing from flop to river.
The rule of fours gets slightly less accurate the more outs you have, but it works well in most in-game situations.
If you want to know the chance of your draw completing on the next street (flop to turn or turn to river), you simply multiply the number of outs by 2 instead of 4.
In this spot, you have roughly 24% chance of completing your draw.
This is a huge amount of equity, meaning you should be inclined to play your draw aggressively.
In order to exert more pressure on your opponent, it may be a good idea to choose a bigger bet size.
This way, you’re accomplishing a few things at once.
First of all, you’re putting the pressure on a lot of marginal hands they may be holding, like middle pairs, weak Kx hands and so on.
These hands will have a hard time calling your double barrel, especially since they are playing out of position, and don’t want to get involved in a bloated pot on the river.
Secondly, you’re charging a premium for a lot of drawing hands you may actually be ahead of.
Finally, if your bluff gets called and you manage to hit your draw on the river, you stand to win a bigger pot.
You can afford to play the turn aggressively here because you are drawing to the nuts, and have a ton of equity to fall back on.
If that’s not the case (i.e. you’re not drawing to the nuts or don’t have a lot of outs), you should think twice about double barreling, especially if your opponent is not likely to fold.
This is discussed in much more detail in The Microstakes Playbook.
2. Double Barrel Bluff Against Tight Players
Aside from your perceived range and the board runout, you should also take your opponent’s playing tendencies into account when double barrel bluffing.
Your double barrel bluff is more likely to work if your opponent tends to give up a lot on the turn.
This is often the case particularly in small stakes games.
A lot of players will call your flop c-bet with a high frequency, but will often give up on the turn if you keep applying the pressure.
It’s very hard to make a strong hand in no-limit hold’em, and if your flop c-bet gets called, it often means your opponent has a marginal hand, like a top pair, weak kicker, second pair, some sort of a draw etc.
If you can credibly represent a strong hand on the turn, you will often be able to generate a lot of folds against these marginal hands.
Most players, particularly at the lower stakes, won’t be willing to commit a lot of their chips to the stack unless they have a really strong hand.
And this won’t be the case a large majority of the time.
So if the turn card doesn’t drastically change the board texture, you can often get your opponents to fold with a double barrel.
This is more likely to work against tight and "turn honest" players.
A turn honest player is the one who tends to play fairly straightforwardly on the turn.
Double Barrel Bluff Example Hand #2
You are dealt A♦Q♦ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3x.
A tight and aggressive player calls from the BB (big blind).
Pot: 6.5 BB
Flop: J♣5♥2♦
Villain checks. You bet 3 BB. Villain calls.
Pot: 12.5 BB
Turn: 5♠
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should double barrel 6 BB.
In this spot, you can try to push your opponent out of the pot, since the turn card isn’t likely to have improved their hand.
There aren’t many 5x hands in their range, so they won’t have trips too often.
In this situation, you’re trying to exert pressure on a lot of mediocre hands like medium pocket pairs, Jx hands and so on.
Remember, the villain’s range is capped, so they can’t have a lot of nutted combinations on this board.
Even if they call you with some Jx hand, you still have two overcards and plenty of outs to improve on the river.
An overcard is a card that’s stronger than the strongest card on the board.
On the example board above, Aces, Kings, and Queens are overcards.
In this example, it’s worth remembering that you are playing against your opponent’s tendencies.
If the villain isn’t likely to fold and likes to call a lot, your double barrel bluff is way less likely to be profitable.
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3. Double Barrel Bluff When Your Opponent's Range is Wide
When you are bluffing, you are trying to get your opponent to fold stronger hands. This means that the wider your opponent’s range, the more likely they are to fold.
Conversely, the stronger your opponent’s range, the less fold equity you have.
Fold equity simply refers to the percentage of times your opponent will fold to your bet.
Here are a few factors that will determine your fold equity:
a) your opponent type
If your opponent likes to call a lot, you’re not likely to have a lot of fold equity against them. So if your opponent is a calling station, you should probably refrain from double barrel bluffing altogether.
b) table position
Your opponent is likely to have more air in their range if they call your bet from the late position or from the blinds.
Conversely, if you get called from earlier position, your opponent is likely to have a stronger range.
c) preflop action
You will get more folds when double barreling if your opponent flat called your open-raise.
If, on the other hand, they open-raised first and then called your 3-bet, their range is likely to be stronger, so you will have less fold equity.
d) board texture
You will have more fold equity on dry board textures. The wetter the board, the more likely it is that your opponent connected with it in some way, so it’s less likely they will fold to your double barrel.
In order for a double barrel bluff to be successful, you need to take your opponent’s range into account, as well as your own perceived range.
Also, your perceived range only matters if your opponent is a thinking player to begin with.
If your opponent doesn’t even consider your range when making decisions, there’s no point in trying to represent a strong hand.
Therefore, double barrel bluffing only works against thinking opponents who are actually considering your range.
Against recreational players, it’s better to keep your turn betting range value heavy, and save your bluffs for players who are actually paying attention.
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4. Double Barrel Bluff on Scare Cards
Another spot where double barrel bluffing may be profitable is when you can credibly represent a strong hand.
In other words, your perceived range becomes stronger, while your opponent’s range becomes weaker.
This happens when a so-called “scare card” comes on the turn.
A scare card is a card that is likely to improve your perceived range, while your opponent’s range becomes weaker.
If you have the opportunity to make a turn continuation bet, this means that you have the range advantage.
A player with the range advantage theoretically has more strong hands in their range, because their range is uncapped.
The player who calls a flop c-bet, on the other hand, has a capped range, meaning there’s an upper limit of strong hands they can potentially have in their range.
So when a scare card comes on the turn, it’s a good opportunity to represent a strong hand with your uncapped range.
Let’s look at an example hand to illustrate the point.
Double Barrel Bluff Example Hand #3
You are dealt A♦J♦ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3x.
Villain calls from the CO (cutoff).
Pot: 7.5 BB
Flop: T♣5♥3♦
You bet 3.5 BB. Villain calls.
Pot: 14.5 BB
Turn: K♠
You: ???
You should double barrel 8 BB.
This is a good spot for a double barrel bluff. Not only did you pick up some equity on the turn with an inside straight draw, you can also credibly represent a lot of strong hands.
Let’s break down the action street by street.
Preflop you have a standard open-raise with a decent broadway hand. You get called by the player in the cutoff.
You can automatically narrow down their range to something like medium to small pocket pairs, suited connectors, weaker broadways and so on.
Since they flat called instead of 3-betting, their range is capped, so you can automatically exclude strong hands from their range, like strong pocket pairs, Ace-King, Ace-Queen and so on.
You miss the flop, but you still have two overcards, as well as a backdoor straight and flush draws. This makes c-betting almost mandatory.
You get called again, so you can narrow down your opponent’s range further to Tx hands, middle pairs, maybe some suited connector like 76s etc.
The turn card makes your perceived range stronger, while making your opponent’s range weaker.
You can credibly represent a number of strong hands here, like Ace-King, King-Queen, King-Jack, pocket Kings and so on.
At the same time, your opponent’s range got relatively weaker. If they have some Tx hands, they don’t have the top pair anymore, so they will have a hard time calling a double barrel here.
The same is true if they have some middle pocket pair like pocket Nines or pocket Eights.
On top of that, you picked up some equity, and you are now drawing to the nuts straight.
This means you are semibluffing when double barreling, which is usually preferrable to stone cold bluffing.
The Advanced “Double Barrel Bluff” Poker Technique - Summary
The Double barrel bluffing play is a tool every serious poker player should have in their arsenal.
Having a firm grasp of when (and when not to) double barrel is a part of any advanced poker strategy, and is a surefire way to improve your red line (i.e. your non-showdown winnings).
To sum up, here are 4 spots where you should consider double barrel bluffing:
1. When you pick up equity on the turn
The more hand equity you have, the more likely it is for your double barrel bluff to be profitable.
Semibluffing the turn is great because you can win the pot in multiple ways: you can either get your opponent to fold right away, or you can potentially hit your outs on the river and take down an even bigger pot.
2. When your opponent is turn honest
A lot of players (particularly at the lower stakes) aren’t willing to commit a lot of chips to the pot unless they have a really strong hand.
This means you can often push them out of the pot with a well-timed turn aggression.
3. When your opponent’s range is weak
As a general ruleIt’s better to bluff against weak ranges, and double barrel bluffing is no exception.
The more air in your opponent’s range, the more likely they are to fold to your bluffing attempts. Avoid bluffing in spots where your opponent could potentially have a lot of strong hands.
4. When the turn is a scare card
A scare card makes your perceived range stronger, while making your opponent’s range weaker. This means you can credibly represent a strong hand which is critical for successful bluffing.
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