What is a Blocking Bet?

Some of you may have heard of the term "Blocking Bet" and some probably have not. I bet you have all seen one, but you may not have known that's what it was and you may not have known its purpose.

You may see this move at any level of play, but at higher levels it's used quite a bit by good players. It's important to know when you are being "blocked" so you can defend against it.

A blocking bet is a bet made by a person who is out of position and makes an abnormally small bet into you at the river with the intention of getting to a cheaper showdown.

He would normally do this because he is afraid that you are going to make a large river bet and he hopes that when he makes this smaller blocking bet, you will just call out of confusion rather than raise him.

Here is an example. The game is NLHE. The blinds are $2/$4.

I open limp in MP with 6♣6♦. The player to my immediate left limps also. It is folded to the SB, who raises to $10. I call, and the other limper folds so we're heads up. I have $217 left and the opponent has me covered.

The pot is $28. The flop comes A♦7♥6♥. The SB bets $10 and I raise to $20, which he calls.

The pot is $68. The turn is the Q♣. He now bets $10. I raise to $50 and he calls.

The pot is $168. The river is the Q♠. He leads again, this time for $30.

What can he have here? He obviously has an ace. I thought he might've had AJ when he led into me again at the turn, but if he did have AJ, he would've made a much bigger bet at the river.

He knows I really like my hand. He has to know I would call a large bet at the river. He instead makes an abnormally small bet in relation to the pot size at the river because he knows that I have $146 left and I'm going to bet $100 or so into the $168 pot.

He makes this "blocking bet" to block me from raising and hopes that I will just call and he can see if he wins cheaply. I was 99% sure he has AK or AQ so I raised all in. If he had checked, I probably would've bet about $75 praying for a call, but his blocking bet was obvious to me so I made him pay for making that move on me. He called, and had A♦K♥.

Be on the lookout for these blocking bets because normally you will make more money by making the opponent sorry he tried that move on you. There are times when it is best to just call the bet, but if your hand is strong, it's usually best to pound your opponent in that spot.

If you are looking for an online poker room where you can practice your blocking bet technique, try the pokerstars marketing code.

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