Bluffing in Poker
Bluffing is one of the most appealing and exciting aspects of poker. Pulling off a big bluff or snap calling an opponent’s bluff with bottom-pair is equally fulfilling. The major problem with bluffing and calling bluffs is that they are overused by most amateur poker players.
Knowing when to bluff in poker, and when not to bluff, is an essential skill to become a good poker player. This article presents several poker bluffing tips and examples designed to help you master the art of bluffing and calling bluffs successfully.
Bluffing in online poker
There’s still a lot of bad advice floating around that says you should never bluff low stakes players while playing online poker. In the past few years, you would be more likely to get called when bluffing online. Nowadays though, there is a good mix of calling stations and multi-tabling nits who don’t call without a really good hand. The best site to get a mix of both types is Pokerstars. With hundreds of thousands of players online at a time, you will be able to identify the fish and the people who are playing 20 tables at a time. The people playing multiple tables are some of the best players to bluff since they aren’t paying much attention to each individual table.
Universal bluff tips
These bluffing tips I call universal because they will apply in various poker games including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Seven Card Stud.
Never bluff a calling station
There are sometimes when you absolutely KNOW your opponent is weak and they shouldn’t call a raise from you. The problem is, you also know this player is a fish because he calls way too much. Should you bluff this player? No, you should not.
As tempting as it may be to bluff a fish, you should avoid it at all costs. Since this player calls too much, you are likely to get called down by hands like bottom pair. When your bluff gets called by a weak player it will frustrate you and may result in you playing worse or going on tilt.
Instead, you should focus on value betting and not bluffing against calling stations.
Avoid fancy bluffs at low limits
New players often have something called FPS or Fancy Play Syndrome. This is usually a result of watching too much High Stakes Poker or WSOP and WPT final tables on TV. These players see the big bluffs that work on TV and think “hey, I’ll try this at the $4/$8 Limit Hold’em table”.
Almost all bluffs should be avoided at low limit casino poker games like $4/$8 Limit Hold’em and $1/$2 No Limit, unless a couple of conditions are met. 1) You must know that your opponent is capable of making a big lay down and 2) Your bluff must make sense.
Like I mentioned before you should never bluff a calling station. But you should look for those players who play too tight. Many No Limit Hold’em players can’t stand to call big bets, even when it makes sense to. If you can identify these players, you can exploit them by taking away big pots when a scare card hits.
Your story needs to add up
If you’ve successfully identified the players at the table that you should and shouldn’t bluff, you need to make your bluff believable.
For example, your opponent raises from middle position and you call on the button with Js9s.
The flop comes As Kd 6s and your opponent bets the pot, you call.
The turn is 5c, your opponent bets 2/3 of the pot and you make the (loose) call.
The river is the 2d and your opponent checks. Since you can only win by betting, you fire a 2/3 pot sized bet and your opponent quickly calls and shows AQ and wins a nice pot.
What went wrong? Well your story didn’t add up. You just called preflop from the button which doesn’t demonstrate strength. You would have likely raised with hands that would beat your opponent like AK, AA and KK.
On the flop you once again just called. The only hand your opponent is really worried about is 66 that flopped a set and is now slow-playing. Your opponent is obviously aware of the flush draw.
On the turn you call again. Now your opponent can safely eliminate all the hands that beat him from your range, since you would likely raise any two pair hands or sets on the turn. He puts you on a flush draw.
The river is a “brick” meaning it is unlikely to have helped any hand you are holding. If you have what your opponent puts you on, (a flush draw) you will fold to any river bet. So, your opponent checks to induce a bluff. That’s right, he wants you to bluff so he will make more money. You bet and he knows that unless you have a weird hand like 3s4s (for a flush draw that backed into a straight), that he has the best hand.
Here’s an example of a bluff I made at a recent live $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em game that is much better timing. After playing with this guy for a while, I knew he was really aggressive and capable of making a big laydown against me. (I had shown some big hands and had an overall tight table image)
I limped in with As6s and my opponent raised to $10. Another player called and so did I. Pot is $30.
The flop is Qs7s8h. I check. My opponent bets $25. The other player folds. I call. Pot is $80
The turn is 5h giving me an open-ended straight draw and the nut flush draw. I check and my opponent bets $50. I really put him on a big hand like AA, KK or AQ. I figure he knows I’m drawing and wants me to fold. With the board the way it is, I have a lot of outs. Plus, there are a lot of scare cards that could come on the river and give me a chance to take the pot away, so I call. Pot is $180.
The river is the 6h. This puts a four-card straight and a completed backdoor flush on the board. I made a pair of sixes which is almost never going to be the best hand. I figure this is a great time to bluff since the board is scary and the pot is big enough to risk another bet for. I pause for a while before leading into him with a $75 bet.
It’s small compared to the pot, but I figure is big enough to get the job done if he figures I made a big hand. After making the bet he starts huffing and puffing and slams his cards into the muck and I win the pot.
Common types of Texas Hold’em bluffs
The continuation bet bluff
The continuation bet is one of the most basic bluffs in poker. When you make a raise before the flop, you “continue” your aggression on the flop by betting again. This is a high-probability bluff since you represented a strong hand before the flop and represented a big hand again on the flop. These bets tend to work best against one or two opponents and is tougher to pull off against more players.
The position bluff
In poker, position is huge. When all the others check (which usually means weakness), many times you can make a bet from last position and take the pot down without a good hand. In No Limit at weak-tight tables, I like to make small raises from late position with hands like small suited connectors and small pairs. That way, it will build a nice pot so I can win more when I hit, and make a continuation bet when I miss to pick up the pot.
The Semi-bluff
Learning how to semi-bluff effectively is important, especially in No Limit Hold’em. A semi-bluff is where you make a bet with a drawing hand. For example, you have Qh10s on a board of Jh9d5c. If you bet the flop it would be a semi-bluff since you only have Queen high, but you have an over-card and an open-ended straight draw, so you have outs if you get called. Semi-bluffing also helps build the pot in case you hit your hand and allows you to have a better shot at taking down the pot with a multi-street bluff should you miss your draw.
The Call Bluff
Inducing a bluff
Anytime you feel like an aggressive opponent has a weak hand on the river and is not likely to call a bet from you, you might want to check to induce a bluff. This is especially true when you put him on something like a flush draw that misses.
Avoid bluffing with the best hand
Whenever you bet the river you should be doing so for one of two reasons; you feel like you have the best hand and are betting as a value bet or you feel like you can win at showdown so you bet as a bluff. You should avoid betting hands that have a chance to win at showdown.
-How to tell if someone is bluffing in poker (calling a bluff in poker)
-Best Poker Bluffs (high stakes poker bluff)
