Bluffing: Bluffing is an integral part of your
poker-playing arsenal. Learn how and when to bluff,
and more importantly when not to bluff can
greatly increase your bankroll. If you are never caught bluffing you probably
arenıt trying it enough. If you are constantly caught bluffing youıre either
bluffing too much, bluffing at the wrong times, or both. Deciding whether or
not to bluff varies from situation to situation, just like most decisions in
poker.
WHEN TO BLUFF
Plain ole Bluff: This is just betting with absolute nothing, just because you
think your opponent will lay it down. This is probably the riskiest form of the
bluff because if you are called you have only a miniscule chance of winning.
This can be effective, especially in No Limit. Daniel Negreanu has utilized
this style of play very effectively. He will put you all in with nothing based
off of reads and his feel of the situation. If he doesnıt think you will risk
your entire stack with top pair, he will put you all in. In most cases, this is
probably unwise for most of us. Bluffing because it is the only way you would
win a pot is a desperate move, and will rarely work.
Bluffing from the Button: This is making a bet on the button because everyone
has checked it around to you. Especially in higher stakes games this tactic is
utilized. In general, this doesnıt work for most low limit holdem games, the
bet simply isnıt respected, and more than that, most low limit players are
loose and passive. They call a lot in general. Save this type of bluff for late
in tournaments or in higher stakes games.
Representing a hand: This is a bluff that is more common in the higher stakes games.
This is where you representı a hand by your betting actions. Examples being,
betting out large when the 3rd of a suit hits the board. You act as if this
card completed your hand and now dominates the two pair or set that your
opponent is representing. In lower limit holdem, it is normally unwise to
utilize this tactic. Simply because a large percentage of your opponents donıt
give a second though to what you might be holding, only what they have in their
hand. They will call you down without hesitation because they donıt even
realize that you could have just made your flush, they just know that their two
pair of kings and sixes is a pretty good hand! Chris Moneymaker used this to
perfection in one of the biggest heads up pots in the 2003 WSOP, when Sam Farha
folded top pair after deliberating for nearly 3 minutes. Sam even said, ³Missed
your flush eh?² He sure did Sam he sure did.
Stealing the Blinds: Blind stealing is normally done from the button or one seat
before. It is simply raising the bet with the hope that the blinds fold. This
isnıt normally a wise idea in loose tables unless you have a fairly strong
hand. Where it does come in handy is when the blinds get large enough later in
tourneys and youıve picked up that certain players are playing way too tightly.
Do not attempt a blind steal if there are 2 or more opponents already in the
pot before you, they will nearly always call you. Even if your blind steal
attempt isnıt successful youıve got good position to play after the flop. This
is a good attempt to continue the bluff if there is little action in front of
you. You raised pre-flop so your other opponents might think you have a strong
hand.
Small number of people competing for the pot
It is easier to get a small number of opponents to fold than a large number. With fewer hands out there, chances are better that no one has made a reasonable hand. This is a fairly common tactic and many players will not respect this type of bluff. Especially in the lower limits people will stay in the hand just to "keep you honest.
When you're up against very tight players.
Tight players fold easily, oftentimes too easily. Bluffing here will not only give you the chance to win the pot, but it will be an excellent source of information. By bluffing pre-flop or on the flop against a very tight player gives you a wealth of information, as well as the opportunity to win the pot right there. If the tight players do not fold you should think twice about trying it again on a future round. They have something. You have to figure out if they have a made or drawing hand. If you are confident it is a drawing hand, you can attempt the river bluff. If it is a made hand, it is time to lay it down and worry about the next hand.
River Bluff
If the river card doesnıt complete any draws it can be an
excellent opportunity to consider a bluff. Lotıs of players live by the motto:
"The moment you know you can't win, throw in your cards". It is often
a good idea to bluff with a weak hand, like ace-high or lowest pair with these
kinds of bluffs
You have excellent position, and it is checked around to you.
This play is depends heavily on the texture of the table you are
playing at, as well as your table image. If you are a tight player and have not
been caught bluffing recently, this type of bluff might be respected. If you
are against 3 or 4 players in the field, it is quite likely that someone will
keep you honest. We see this tactic employed in higher stakes games with
success.
Already Bet Pre-Flop, but totally missed the flop.
This is more of a continuation of your aggressive play pre-flop. You raised it pre-flop representing that you have a good hand, even if the flop missed you it might have missed everyone else also. Even if it didnıt, you have a good idea of who you are up against by betting again on the flop. Callers in this situation either have a good hand already or are drawing to a great hand (or are very passive/weak).
You are Scary
If you just won a hand through good play, the players who say "nice hand" are the ones who now respect you. They will more likely fold to your bluff if you play it right. Play the bluff the same way you played the strong hand. It keeps your opponents guessing and you currently have the respect (fear) of the table.
Weak Flop
Some flops probably donıt help out the competition. Pretend that it helps you out and bet if you havenıt been caught bluffing recently. If you are called or raised, it would probably be a good idea to slow down this bluff on the Turn and River, someone has hit something and doesnıt believe that you can beat them.
When the board pairs
A pair on the board scares most players. If the pair is 88 or lower it is an excellent opportunity to bet first out into this board. It is likely that these cards have been folded or are still in the deck. If you are called you need to proceed VERY carefully. If someone was holding A/7 suited and the board pairs 7ıs, they will often just call on the flop so they can raise you on the turn.
WHEN NOT TO BLUFF
You got caught trying to bluff a pot with 7 2 offsuit from late position. No one respects you, you are going to have to showdown a couple of winners before you see any decent hands fold to your bets. Play it straight up for a while, and wait for a better opportunity. In online poker this is very hard to do, simply because players come and go quickly, and many of them donıt even realize that you just got bluffing, or that youıve been playing straightforward for a while.
Dangerous Flop
Flops that hold an Ace, or two overcards are likely to have helped someone out. These cards tend to make it beyond pre-flop. Also, players tend to continue to play their Aces. Even with a weak kicker, lots of players will go into a check/call mode with a pair of aces
Lots of competition.
Someone will keep you honest. Save your bets and your reputation. There are much better bluffing opportunities on the way.
Against bad players.
Many players donıt give a second thought to what you have in your hand. They are happily playing their cards and will simply call you down with nearly anything. They're much more likely to "keep you honest" because they don't realize what a money-loser that is. It's much more profitable to play straight up in these games. Bluffing is only effective from a "fear" perspective in this case.
Just lost a huge hand, or have been on a bad streak.
Youıre on tilt, and someone knows it.
Limped in
Since you havenıt shown aggression pre-flop, your post flop bets donıt garner the respect they would if you had raised pre-flop. Lotıs of players will put you on a drawing hand, or on a bluff. If you decide to limp in, it is probably best to play your hand straight up unless you have an excellent read on the table and think that your opposition will lay it down.
The
Semi Bluff: The semi bluff is
when you bet with a hand is currently weak but has the chance to draw to a very
strong hand. Flush and Straight draws are excellent examples of an opportunity
to semi-bluff. These are generally good
opportunities to attempt a bluff, because even if your bluff doesnıt scare
anyone away, your hand very well might improve to be the winner at showdown
anyway.
Bet It Like You Got It: The best semi-bluffs occur with the player raising pre-flop.
This will chase out any limpers and will give the table the impression that you
hold a strong pocket hand. These types of bluffs are best accomplished in a
late betting position but can also be successful in an early one. The whole
idea here is to get the table to think you have a high pocket pair or an ace
with another face card, possibly suited. Let's take a look at a couple of excellent
semi-bluff situations.
For Example: You are dealt on the button: 2H 2S.
5 people call the big blind, 2 fold, the bet comes to you. Here,
you raise a considerable amount. I recommend either the maximum allowed on a
limit table, or in pot limit or no limit, at least 3 times the blind cost.
Here's a good example of what will likely happen:
Small blind folds, big blind calls, two other people call, all
else folds.
Now you have a considerable pot here. The flop comes: Jh 3s 4d
This is an excellent flop to bluff with. Chances are, the only
hands you need to worry about here somebody who holds AJ, KJ, QJ, JJ, or a
pocket pair. Anybody else would have likely folded to the pre-flop raise. Now,
it is very important to carefully watch how people bet prior to the bet coming
to you. The table is already conscious of the fact that you pre-flop raised and
they might be leery of throwing out any more of their chips and having you come
over the top-which is exactly what you're going to do. Once again, unless somebody
bets really big here, you're going to want to bet it hard. If you're in limit
poker, I suggest betting/raising to the max until you're re-raised. If you're
in pot limit or no limit, consider your stack size at this point. If you're
short-stacked, you may want to go all in. If you have a large stack, Bet It
Like You Got It. If you get called, you still have a few outs on turn and the
river. However, I have found that if you keep betting like you have a big hand,
eventually everybody will believe it and the only callers you'll get are other
people with big hands who wonıt be folding regardless. The idea of the bluff is
to get out the mediocre hands that probably beat you but donıt know it. If
someone is holding JJ with this flop, there is no way they would fold this
hand. If someone is holding A/4c they are very likely to let this hand go even
though it beats your pair of 2ıs.
When it comes to bluffing, a lot of people think that this
involves throwing caution to the wind, all your chips into the pot, and hoping
everybody folds to your 2 7 off-suit. This is not at all the case, although I
have seen many poker players do this and have success-albeit more failure than
success. A good bluffer knows the players on the table, knows his or her own
reputation, and will use this knowledge to prey on the table itself or specific
opponent's weaknesses. A good bluffer is willing to bet all of his or her chip
stack when they know their opponent(s) don't have the best possible hand on the
table. A good bluffer knows when they've been caught. Finally, and the bottom
line to a bluff that works, is one that is respected.
Using
Odds: Poker is a game with
mathematical concepts and strategies.
It's always good to look at poker from a mathematical perspective,
and that even applies to bluffing. You can determine finite amounts and
percentages that can tell you if it is a financially feasibly good time to
bluff. This is particularly useful when there are only one or two players and
the pot is rather large.
It's good to do these calculations with potential straights or
flushes that appeared on the river, that you were going for but you didn't
make. It's nice with a flop that starts with Heart, Heart, Spade, and ends with
Spade, Spade. You had two Hearts. Or a flop like Five, Seven, Eight, and ends
with Ten, Jack. You had a Six. It's also good because they might have been on
the same draw, which leads them to believe (also from on odds perspective) that
you were not on that draw.
Let's say that one of the above cases occurred in a $5/$10 game
and on the river there is $140 in the pot. Your only opponent checks to you. If
you check, you know you've lost. So you bluff. The reasoning is that if you
invest another $10, you're getting 14 to 1 odds. As a percent that's around 7%.
If they fold more than 7% of the time, you make money in the long poker game of
life. If not, it's a losing venture.
You still have to evaluate the player, but from a purely
mathematical standpoint, you get the picture. You can also evaluate it by
reasoning that they missed their draw more than 7% of the time and will fold.
If two players were involved in the pot, it cuts the odds in
half. With three, it becomes 1/3rd of 7%, etc. You can see why you want to
bluff against fewer players. This can be unreliable though, as some players
will stay in purely based on pot odds. So when bluffing you cannot ever use
just odds. Get a feel for your opponents, and act accordingly.
Spot
a Bluffer: There are some
concepts and things to look for when you think there is a possibility that
someone is bluffing. This is not focusing on any tell that might have given the
person away, such as a fake yawn or nervous twitch, but situations in a game
where you could see your opponent attempting a bluff. You will never catch
every bluffer, and you certainly shouldnıt try to but knowing how to spot a
bluffer can have a great impact on your bankroll.
Being able to accurately spot a bluffer is more than just about
tells, it is understanding from your oppositions point of view that it might be
a plausible time for them to bluff.
Bet the Flop, check the turn: This is a sign of weakness and should be exploited
whenever you are confident that your hand is has the best chance of winning.
Many players will bet on the flop from an early position hoping that no one
will stick around, but will then check on the turn if they have callers.
Generally this means that they were hoping that most everyone would fold.
Pot Odds are in their favor: If the pot is small compared to the size of their bet
it doesnıt make sense for drawing hands to call the bet. Also if the pot is
fairly large but an obvious draw was missed you can expect someone to bluff at
the pot just because of the size of the pot. If the size of the pot is large
enough, it is often a good idea to call these bets with even marginal hands.
Ragged Flop: If the flop is lots of low cards many times the first person
into the pot will win the hand because it probably missed everyone and
aggressive action is normally rewarded in poker.
Single opponent: Itıs just the two of you, and it is always easier to bluff one
person than two. This is where you really need to evaluate all the previous
information you have about your opponent and make your decision. If you think
he is bluffing you should re-raise him and put him to the test.
Paired flop: This is a scary flop, because if someone does have the third of
the pair he has a fairly strong hand. Especially if it is all low cards on the
flop it is highly unlikely that someone has either trips or 2 pair, and a bet
out into this board is hard to call.
No draws on the flop: Many times people will bet out into a flop that doesnıt have
any obvious draws to eliminate anyone holding even a backdoor draw. This is
probably less common than our above reasons, but if this happens from the
button or late position it is possible that they are trying to bluff.