The triple barrel bluff is one strategy people fear the most to incorporate in their poker games. Players who encounter them fear them, and many players who are too afraid or ill-informed to do so also fear them.

This technique is one of the most effective ways to deceive opponents and take down big pots. This advanced technique involves making three consecutive bets on the flop, turn, and river. This represents a strong hand and forces your opponents to fold weaker holdings. 

However, mastering the triple barrel bluff is challenging and requires a deep understanding of the game, your opponents, and your poker table image. This guide will explore this strategy to help you incorporate this powerful technique into your arsenal. 

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What Is Triple Barrel Bluffing?

Triple Barrel Bluffing is an advanced poker strategy in which a player attempts to win the pot by making three consecutive betting or raising moves. This technique can be used when the player has a weak hand, attempting to deceive their opponents into believing they have a stronger hand. This can lead to opponents folding and giving you the pot without having to show your cards. 

When to Use This Strategy?

Excessive Folding of Opponents to River C-Bet

Admittedly, for the most part, you won’t have the luxury of a large sample size of hands-on river experiences. Sometimes you’ll gather enough data to see your opponent folding too frequently on the river. If you wager a sum equal to 2/3 of the pot and your opponent folds more regularly than 40% of the time, you will automatically win the hand. You should typically be throwing any air holding you have when you reach the river by the time your opponent is folding around 60% to river c-bets.

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No Showdown Value

When you play poker, the hands that have no chance of prevailing at showdown are the greatest for river bluffs. If a hand has a modest probability of winning at a showdown, the Expected Value (EV) of checking will be above zero. This implies that a successful bluff doesn’t mean you have to have the best or modest hand for it to work.

Your bluff must have a larger EV than checking to be considered the smartest move. The higher the EV of a check, the more showdown value you have, and the less likely your position will be considered for a three-barrel bluff.

Capped Range

When you deduce that your opponent might be capped, barreling as a bluff is more beneficial. By “capped,” we mean that the course your opponent has chosen has put a cap on how powerful they can be. 

For instance, if our adversary calls you down on a 10h-Js-5d-4d-2s texture. He is usually capped. He will raise one of your c-bets if he has any holdings of 2 pairs or better. If he is holding a monster, it would be risky for him to offer you free cards on such a draw runout. He is capped to his strong hand holdings, and his range also includes a handful of busted straight and flush draws. In this case, bluffing will frequently be more profitable.

Barrel With Equity During the Turn

It can be difficult to strike the correct balance while bluffing the river. There may only sometimes be something you can do to correct the situation if you enter the river with a poor range.

However, you must be careful about the kinds of hands you use to semi-bluff the turn. You will be obliged to bluff too often (or check/fold a lot of weak holdings) if you bluff the turn too frequently because your river range will be too broad.

Your river range will be far too powerful if you just value bet and never bluff the turn, and a strong opponent will easily fold any mid-strength position whenever you Three barrel.

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Firing a Three-Barrel Bluff

You should start using the three-barrel bluff since it will pay off when you don’t have a hand and help you balance your range.

But, if done randomly and without knowing why you are three-barreling, it could cause a significant leak.

First Barrel

Poker players understand the value of being the aggressor before the flop, but deciding whether to place a continuation bet can be challenging. Knowing what kinds of boards you can c-bet because all three-barrel bluffs start with this wager.

The simplest approach to assess flops is whether or not they are coordinated. It’s far simpler to connect with a flop like Jc-10c-7c than Kd-8c-2s. Therefore, look for dry, uncoordinated flops to allow c-bets to work.

Second Barrel

You must decide whether to keep firing after the turn, depending on how the board changes. The goal is for cards to increase your perceived range while decreasing your opponent’s. Search for high cards once more, particularly ones higher than the high card on the flop. Second-barrel cards larger than the flop’s second-highest card are also excellent. 

Middle and top pairs comprise a sizable portion of your opponent’s flop-calling range. Any large cards increase the susceptibility of those hands. Boards with cards that pair together are typically terrible targets for a second barrel.

Third Barrel

Correctly sizing your third barrel is crucial to your bottom line after three betting streets.

Cards that complete draws are not excellent for triple barreling. Meanwhile, big cards, especially overcards to the board, are good.

The progress of the board on the turn is also something to consider. For example, on the turn, your opponent picks up an extra draw that lets him stay in the hand while frequently calling with the middle or top pair on the flop. Consider a third barrel if the turn put a lot of draws on the board, but the river missed them.

Conclusion

Triple barrel bluffing can be an effective strategy for winning pots in poker games, but it is essential to understand when and how to use this technique. That means you must bluff more often when the board matches your perceived range, consider your opponents, and what river and turn card are suitable for the second and third barrel bluffs. By keeping these points in mind, this intimidating move can allow you to confidently use this on your Texas Holdem poker game.