Blockers In Poker, How They Work In 2022

Today We Are Going To Discuss About Blockers In Poker, How They Work In 2022: The concept of blockers in poker has been around for a while but, until recently, it’s one that has been far more stressed in Omaha games. Lately, however, we’re seeing the concept applied more in Texas Hold’em as well. While the value of blockers may not be as high in Hold’em as it is in Omaha, they’re still well worth considering as a part of a greater overall game plan.

If you’re new to this concept or have heard a bit about it and are looking to get more insights and ideas, you’ve come to the right place. This article is fully dedicated to explaining how to get the most value out of your blockers in different situations. Whether you’re trying to catch a bluff, considering bluffing yourself, or figuring out if you should go for value, understanding the concept of blockers can be very helpful and significantly improve your overall poker strategy.

Blockers: They Are Exactly What They Sound Like

If you’re completely new to the concept of blockers and have just heard the term being thrown around, your initial idea or assumption about what these are is probably correct. As the name suggests, blockers are cards that block certain hands. In other words, they make certain hands less likely or completely impossible in your opponents’ Poker Range.

It is best explained with examples of flushes. If there are three hearts on the board and you’re holding the Ace of hearts in your hand (with another non-heart card), you may not have the nut flush but you can also be 100% certain that none of the other players still active in the hand have it either. By holding the A♥, you’re blocking the best possible flush, which can be a very useful piece of information that impacts how you play the hand.

Blockers & Bluffing: A Powerful Weapon When Used Correctly

The first thing we’ll look into is how the concept of blockers in poker can be applied to situations where you’re planning to run a bluff. We’ve already alluded to this possibility earlier, and now we’ll expand on the idea.

Say you’re sitting in the big blind and are dealt A♦T♠. Your opponent makes a standard open from the hijack position and you have him pegged as a somewhat tighter player, so you decide to flat and see the flop. The board comes K♦ J♦ 3♥.

You play it inflow and check to the original raiser who makes it a half-pot bet. You call and the turn comes the 4♦. While this card doesn’t improve your hand immediately, it does give you even more outs to the nuts and also gives you more options for how to play the hand. You could now take control of the pot and fire a larger bet with the plan to also fire big on the river, or go for the check-raise, putting maximum pressure on your opponent.

Incorporating Blockers In Your Value Betting Strategy

While the whole idea of blockers is mostly discussed in terms of bluffing, it is also something you should have in the back of your mind when betting for value. When you’re the one holding the nuts and reducing other players’ chances of having a really big hand, you need to take this into consideration when sizing your bets.

Let’s consider a board of 4 5 K 6 8, with no possible flushes. You get to the river with 97 and have the absolute nuts. You’re looking to get value from your hand, but you should also keep in mind that the chances of one of the other players having a 7 is reduced. So, your value bet should be designed to target hands like a good top pair or two pair hands.

Of course, your decision will also be connected to other factors in the hand as well. Depending on how the hand played out up to that point, you may have a decent idea about other players’ range – which can massively influence the exact line (and bet size) you choose on the river.

Blockers & Ranges: Putting Two & Two Together

We’ve already mentioned that the concept of blockers goes along with other strategic poker concepts. Its value becomes much higher when you start incorporating other ideas and combining them into a sound and effective strategic plan.

When you’re thinking about blockers, you shouldn’t be thinking about them in isolation. Ideally, you want to think about them within the range you assign to your opponent through deductive hand reading at the poker table. We’ll demonstrate what we’re talking about here through some more examples.

Let’s say a solid player opens from UTG +1 at a 9-handed table and you make defend loosely with 5♥4♥. The board comes 2♥ 4♠ 5♣, giving you top two pair. You check to the raiser, they bet, you raise, and they decide to 4-bet you. Let’s now think about their range for a second.

Using Blockers Preflop

Moreover, you could use blockers to make better decisions before the flop. Obviously, you should know which hands to play from each position, and if you not sure how to select appropriately, just grab a poker cheat sheet ,but that should just be your starting point. If you’re interested, in this video I talk about the power of using blockers preflop.

These are just a couple of examples where we can apply the concept of blockers and combine it with our general knowledge of ranges and tendencies to make better decisions. With time and practice, you’ll get better at recognizing these specific spots where putting two and two together will help you play your hands in the best way possible.

The Concept Of “Unblocking”

There’s been more discussion lately about the benefits of unblocking key hands in our opponent’s postflop range. Given that blocking is when visible cards make it less likely to have certain holdings, unblocking is when visible cards actually make it more likely your opponent could have certain holdings.

For instance, take this hand that I played in my $1/$2 poker VLOG. I break down an OESFD where my exact hand unblocks my opponent from having many of the hands I’d prefer them to have when barreling the turn.

By holding Q♦J♦, my opponent cannot have hands like A♦J♦ nor Q♦J♠, hands that would likely fold facing another bet on the turn. We would instead prefer to hold something like 7♠6♠ and unblock key combos in our opponent’s range that are more likely to fold against continued pressure.

Conclusion: Practice Makes Perfect

While the idea of blockers may be novel to many players, it is definitely a valuable concept that is well worth exploring and adding into your overall game-plan. Don’t worry about learning everything there is to learn in a day or two. As you could probably guess from this article, this is a fairly wide area that will take some time to truly master – which is totally OK, as you will expand your knowledge and deepen your poker survival kit as you practice these things between sessions.

The best way to master the concept of blockers, of course, is by actually playing and putting the idea to the test. Now that you have some fundamentals down, you can start looking for spots where an understanding of blockers could come in handy. As already mentioned, be careful not to overdo it, and don’t forget to take into account other information you may have about your opponents. It all comes into play when making your decision.