Poker Guy: Eric Baldwin picks apart a bluff

THE KEY to pulling off a bluff is a betting pattern that convinces your opponent you have the hand you're representing. By contrast, the key to picking off a bluff is finding a hole in your opponent's story, as championship pro Eric Baldwin did in the World Poker Tour's $10,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2010.

With blinds at $50-$100, the player in Seat 5 open-raised to $250. Baldwin re-raised to $700 with A-K offsuit.

"When you're super-deep-stacked (as in this event, in which players started with $40,000 in chips), ace-king is not the greatest hand in the world," said Baldwin, winner of a World Series of Poker bracelet. "Most likely if you make your hand,

you're going to make a one-pair hand, and if you get a ton of chips in, your one pair is probably not going to be good. I wanted to thin the field with my raise and isolate the original raiser so I'd have position on him."

The small blind cold-called the re-raise. "He did it quickly, so I know he has a hand," said Baldwin, a pro from the Ultimate Bet online site. "He didn't think about re-raising, so I felt it was more of a drawing hand - say, ace-king, ace-queen - or a middle pair up to queens."

Seat 5 also called. The flop came 9-3-3, rainbow.

"The first guy looked disinterested and checked, so I put him on ace-high also," Baldwin said. "The second guy checked, too. If I have the small blind accurately on ace-high, then I don't need to worry about him. The guy right in front of me is a tricky player, so if I make a standard bet, he can make some fancy plays. So I decide to check and play pot-control."

The turn came the 6 of clubs. The small blind checked.

"The guy in Seat 5 hesitates a little bit but then checks," Baldwin said. "That's a little fishy to me. I checked because I felt I knew where he was and I had him beat, so I gave him a chance to bluff."

The river came the 7 of spades. The small blind checked. Seat 5 made it $1,525.

"If I'm him, I'm betting the turn if I've picked up a draw," Baldwin said. "I'm betting if I have a pair just to take down the pot because there are so many rivers that could kill the hand. I thought it was a little fishy that he didn't bet there but then bet the river."

So Baldwin called, the small blind folded, and Baldwin took the pot when he caught his opponent bluffing with J-8 suited.

Offsuit: Hole cards of different suits

Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of the book "The Best Hand I Ever Played." He can be reached at

srosenbloom@tribune.com.