Part: Part Eight - Making Moves

The check-raise bluff

Flop
Heads-upPot 2,200 (5.5 BB)A♥K♦5♠BB7♣6♣● 16,000 (40 BB)YOUair on a board that scares the raiserBTN● 16,000 (40 BB)Buttonbets 1,100 (2.8 BB)D

You defended the big blind with 7♣6♣. Flop A♥ K♦ 5♠ - you have nothing, but it's a board you can represent. You check, the button c-bets.

A-K-high board, you have air, but you can credibly hold an ace or king. Best?

WhyThis A-K-high flop is exactly where a big-blind defender holds aces and kings, so raising tells a story he has to believe - and he's the type who c-bets every flop, meaning his range here is mostly air that can't continue. Your seven-six has no showdown value, which is precisely why you'd rather win it now than call and hope.
What happensYou raise to 3,000 - and this time he'd actually flopped an ace, calls you down, and you lose. Still the right move: against an auto-c-bettor his range is weak often enough that repping the ace shows a profit. Sometimes he has it. Keep making the play.
A check-raise bluff needs a believable board and a bettor who can't stand heat. Get both and fire - the times he actually has the goods are the cost of a profitable move, not a reason to abandon it.

A check-raise is a story. It only works on a board your defending range would actually connect with, told against someone who c-bets every flop on autopilot.