Blocking bets are small out of position bets, usually made on the river to allow weak to medium strength hands to make it to showdown. Although they were once popular, the poker world fell out of love with blocking bets as they became too exploitable. But were they merely a fad? Or is there a time and a place for blocking bets in poker?

What is a Blocking Bet in Poker?

During the poker boom in the 2000s, a common strategy arose that was used by both new and expert poker players, known as blocking bets.

If you don’t know what a blocking bet is, here’s the situation. You find yourself out of position on the river with a weak-to-medium strength hand. Not exactly a thrilling scenario. You want to get to showdown because you might have the best hand, but your hand isn’t strong enough to call a huge bet if you check to your opponent.

The blocker bet is a small bet of around a quarter to half the pot at the most, designed to allow you to make it to showdown with these medium strength hands.

Why Players Use Blocking Bets

The idea is that there are plenty of positives that can come from using a blocking bet on the river. First, you could get called by a worse hand and win the pot, or your opponent might fold and save you the prospect of a tough decision.

Even if your blocking bet gets called and you lose, you’ve effectively ‘set the price’ that you are willing to pay to see a showdown. You may have lost fewer chips than if you had check-called a bet.

So, there are several potential advantages to using blocking bets:

• You make it to showdown with the winning hand.
• Your opponent folds when they would have bluffed.
• You lose the hand but at a fraction of the cost of calling a bigger river bet.

The Problem with Blocking Bets in Modern Poker

So, blocking bets are the way to go, right? Well, it’s not quite that straightforward. Here are the reasons why you might want to avoid using too many blocking bets in Texas Hold’em poker.

Watch out for aggressive players

One of the main problems with blocking bets nowadays is that it’s pretty obvious what you are up to much of the time – and good, aggressive players will exploit this. Let’s say you are a competent player and you’re facing what looks like an obvious blocking bet of around a third of the pot on the river.

Put yourself in your opponent’s shoes; what is the one thing that you would not like to happen? The answer is being raised. By the very nature of making a blocking bet, you’ve signified that you have a hand you want to go to showdown with cheaply. A raise here will very often win the pot. This is a main reason why you shouldn’t block bet against perceptive players. You leave yourself open to being exploited by a raise.

Of course, this works in reverse too. If you’re faced with a blocking bet and have a weak hand then you should consider raising as a bluff. Pick your opponents carefully though. You don’t want to bluff a poor player who always calls, so instead focus on thinking players that are capable of laying down a hand.

Playing Scared and Missing Spots

Sometimes it will be subconscious, but an underlying reason behind many blocking bets is that it will help you avoid a tough decision if your opponent bets. This is actually a very dangerous mindset to have when playing poker.

If you’re ever going to become a strong player, you must be comfortable dealing with tough decisions when they arise and attempt to make the best decision possible at the time. If you try to avoid them there is no way you will be able to make the most value when you have a good hand, bluff in the correct spots or pick off bluffs when you have a marginal hand (we’ll cover bluff catching in more detail soon).

Not only will block betting open you up to aggressive raises, it could also be a mistake in terms of the value that you can get for weaker hands.

Alternatives to Blocking Bets

So, if blocking bets are not always the solution, what other options do you have with mediocre hands when you have some showdown value? Well, there’s a few solutions depending on your opponent’s range, tendencies and the action so far. Most commonly you’ll be deciding between check-folding and check-calling.

Checking gives you a chance to make it to showdown for free when opponents check back. It also eliminates the risk of being raised. If your opponent bets, you’ll then have to decide whether to call. If you are ahead of their value range and have the pot odds, you can easily make the call. The situation becomes more difficult when you are behind your opponent’s value range and only beat their bluffs.

Bluff catching

If your opponent’s entire value range beats your hand, you effectively have a bluff catcher. You will only win the pot when the other player is bluffing. To know whether or not to make the call, you’ll need to estimate their bluffing frequency and compare this to the pot odds.

For example, if your opponent bets the pot, you’ll have 2:1 pot odds, meaning you’ll need to win more than 33 percent of the time to profitably make the call. If they are bluffing 66 percent of the time or more, you can make the call.

Checking gives opponents an opportunity to bluff because it shows weakness on the river on your part. However, you’ll need to have a good grasp of your opponents to know who is capable of firing bluffs and how often they will do so. This will allow you to use your weaker hands as bluff catchers rather than using blocking bets.

Betting for Value

There is one more option for your weaker hands when out of position on the river. Instead of using a blocker bet to keep the pot small, use a larger size river bet, the same as you would do with your strong hands and bluffs, so that your hand strength merges with the rest of your range.

This puts your opponent to a tough decision, as they are now the one faced with calling a large bet. They may fold out some stronger hands and even occasionally pay you off by calling with a bluff catcher. However, this is a risky play and one that is best used sparingly. Don’t go firing off huge river bets if the action on the turn suggests that you could be crushed.

When Blocking Bets Can Still Be Effective

Even though blocking bets are not always the best way to play a pot and are rarely recommended as GTO betting lines, they can still be used effectively, particularly as an exploitative play against tight opponents. If you have a read that a player who you are in a hand against is very unlikely to bluff the river, then you can safely make a blocking bet to get to showdown. If they raise, they likely have a monster.

It’s also entirely possible to use blocking bets as part of a balanced river betting range. Blocking bets are back in fashion on the high roller scene, but they’re being used in a different way now. Clever players are using blocking bets not only with their mediocre hands but also mixing in blocking bets with very strong hands and complete bluffs.

This makes it difficult for their blocking bets to be read or exploited, because they could just as easily have the nuts after leading with a third pot bet on the river. It has to be stressed though, using blocking bets in this way is very advanced and requires intense range construction.

Common Mistakes With Blocking Bets

Here are some of the common mistakes that players make when using blocking bets:

• Using blocking bets against aggressive opponents who are likely to raise.
• Using them against perceptive opponents and becoming too predictable.
• Not balancing ranges so you always have a weak hand when betting small.
• Blocking with value hands that could get paid off for a bigger bet.
• Blocking when check-calling or bluff catching is more effective.

Final Thoughts – Should You Use Blocking Bets in Your Game?

As you can see, there are a lot of potential mistakes and pitfalls when it comes to using blocking bets. Yet blocking bets are more than just an old fad. They are a legitimate way to make it to showdown and may still be the best betting line against weaker, tight players who are unlikely to raise as a bluff.  Never use blocking bets out of laziness or fear. Instead, use them sparingly and intentionally when it seems like the best option.