The Bet 3 Bet Bluff

Sometimes we flopped a monster and bet for value and get raise, we start salivating and counting the money that soon will be in our hands when we decide to 3bet and they fold, so you instantly think "Why the hell did you raise me if you are folding AHHHHHHHHHHH stupid monkey"

Those spots do happen and we should be taking notes and analyze them so that we can do it as a bluff. This concept requires some good reads and hand reading skills and by no means should be made as a desperation move or when on tilt, but there are times that your instinct is telling you to raise even thou you have nothing and you have to be able to pull the trigger.

We need a couple of things for this move to work. For example our image, if we have a crazy banana spazzer image then we lose fold equity and are taking too much risk, also this can be a high variance move and if you think he is gonna hit and run then don't try it (Specially if you can't use that new image to your advantage). Also its important the stack to pot ratio and our move should be believable.

Lets examine some hands:
ON THE FLOP

First hand is one of the simplest of bluffs. First is the board texture (A dry board with One high card and two low cards). There are no draws so he can't be doing this as a semibluff and its hard for him to have two pair on that board. So hands that he can do this for value are sets, some Q's and slowplay overpair. With the Q's is a way ahead way behind situation so its less likely he is gonna try to play for stacks. And with sets he is crushing me and he is not gonna get paid off unless I have a good Queen. Also is his betsize, the minraise from this type of players usually means some type of prob raise "to see where he is" (Pretty bad move). That means that I don't have to raise big to take a stab at the pot, and is even cheaper than floating him and betting the turn, of course if he continues I just give up.
Lets see another simple example:

Again this is one of the most basic forms of the bet3bet bluff. On a AQ2dd board he can't represent many made hands because AA/QQ/AQ are probably 3betting preflop and he is not playing Q2, so the only hand is A2 or a straight/flush draw, but I can include all those hands in my range.

ON THE TURN
To pull this off on later streets, we usually need to be deeper so that we can put maximum pressure, of course he must be capable of folding.
In the next hand I had notes on this guy and he loved to slowplay, so even thou I have no hand no draw I was confident that he didn't had a very strong hand when he lead into me so I raised.

He decided to call, so I'm putting him on a 7 or 88 type of hand. This is a clear example of having some reads on the opponent and trusting them. Once he check/raised me on the turn I know that the strongest hand he can have in that spot is K7 and I think he only calls preflop with the K7 suited so there are only 2 combination of K7 left (Kd7s/Ks7s) so I went with my gut and push, then showed him the bluff :-P

ON THE RIVER
Now this one is really fun, because we are extremely deep.

He is playing his hand really passively and I'm showing strength throughout the whole hand. The board is super dangerous and he can't slowplay a monster because we are so deep, so a Fullhouse or flush should raise before the river. I know the board is super scary and he could easily have tried to steal it on the river turning his made hand into a bluff, but of course I can't call with T high so I RAISE!!!!

I'm such a donk hehehe.....

So next time you get raised and his line doesn't make sense, stop for a second and try to think:

-What type of hands is he representing, what is my range?
-What type of opponent he is, can he fold/read hands?
-What Reads do I have on this guy, can I trust them?
-What is my Image, Would he give me credit or is he calling me with Jack high?
-What is the flow of the match, do I expect a move soon? Is he tilted?
-Does he think I'm tilted?

We have to be able to go thru that list in every decision and don't insta fold until you have consider all options and are sure you are making the best one.