Rules of On-line Poker Bluffing
1. The absolute most important aspect of bluffing is getting an understanding of the type of players that are at your table and the overall characterization of the table that you are playing at.
a. If you’re at a table with a predominant group of beginner or novice players…forget about bluffing! Novice players are the most difficult to bluff for a variety of reasons. Number one, they are only focused on what type of hand that they have and they put almost no thought into which cards you are holding. If they have top pair and 4 suited cards are on the table by the river and they don’t have one, they won’t likely consider the possibility that you might have the four card flush which will beat their pair of kings. Secondly, novice players can’t tolerate no knowing which cards you are holding.
b. Forget about trying to bluff loose players. I’ve made this mistake myself. There have been many times where I haven’t put a loose player on much of a hand, so I’ve simply re-raised them when I am quite sure that they are bluffing. However, this strategy is generally unprofitable as they often try to buy their way out of the bluff. Even if they don’t have a very good hand, they will put end up putting you in a situation where you end up risking most of your chips on a hand that may not be any better than theirs.
c. The best type of players to bluff are players that play pretty tight and seem to only play good cards. The caveat to this is that you have to get some idea of whether or not they are holding a good hand.
d. Another very bad type of player to bluff is someone who likes to slow play hands. I’ve made this mistake too. You bet after the flop and they simply call. Then you make a continuation bet after the turn, then they simply call again. Now you are on the river without a hand and you either check and lose, make a small continuation bet and hope for the best, or try to buy the pot with larget bet. Unless you feel like they were chasing a flush or straight draw that they missed, increasing the bet on the river is not a good idea.
2. The second salient question is, ‘what is your table image?’ Once you get caught bluffing a few times, you creat a ‘loose’ table image. Once you have a loose table image players are much more likely to call your bluffs.
3. The next most important question is what type of hand do you put your opponent on. For example, you have to have some idea of what hand your opponent has before you try to bluff them. If someone has flopped a set, no bet is going to scare them away from calling you.
4. The next rule is simple. Bluffing is most effective when there is only one other player left in the hand. It’s usually a bad idea to try to bluff four players as the probability is quite high that at least one of them will have a playable hand.
5. Bluffing in late position is usually the best scenario. If you are first to bet after the flop, you have no clue as to what the other players have. If you do see a number of players check or fold, then you can take a stab at the pot by betting at it.
6. I’ve already said that the best and in my opinion the only profitable scenario for bluffing is when one other player is in left in the pot. In addition, you NEVER WANT TO BLUFF A BIG STACK! I’ve tried this unsuccessfully many times… When you try to bluff someone who has enough chips to even call you when all in and walk away in decent shape if they lose, it is quite likely that the will, in fact, call you if they have a playable hand.
7. The easiest target for bluffing is usually the smaller stack players as they have to play their chips very carefully.
8. Later in the tournament, it can actually be an advantage to bet out of position. Many times if there are three players in the pot when the blinds are quite high, the minimum bet is actually quite high and enough to make most players that missed the flop fold. Later in tournaments when the blind are high, most players are unlikely to chase flushes or straights as the cost of seeing the next card is often very expensive.
9. From most of the tournaments that I’ve done, loose players can accumulate a few chips early on by playing aggressively and bluffing several pots. However, eventually the always put themselves in a situation where they are bluffing someone who has a very good hand and calls them. This results in two problems–one they instantly create a loose table image and secondly, they can end up losing a large portion of their chips. Usually, bluffing is not profitable early on in the tournament as the blinds are relatively low. The only time bluffing is profitable early on in a tournament is after a large preflop raise. However, it can be very dangerous and sometimes stupid to try to bluff the pot after a large preflop raise. At the beginning of the tournament, you don’t start off with very many chips (1500 on ps). If the raise is 5x bb (120) and you bet only 100 on the flop, many of the other players will call you as they had a decent enough hand to call the preflop raise. As well, if they hit the flop then you are only throwing away chips.
10. Bluffing very small stacked players is also ineffective. If you try to bluff someone who is pretty much pot committed simply by calling, generally they will have to call your bluff. As well, it is also very difficult to bluff when you are low on chips as you clearly do not have enough chips to scare other players from calling. Plus the low chips stacked players generally look pretty desparate when they try to bluff.
10. The are occassions where you can buy your way out of a pot by bluffing. For example, if you have AK and raise 3x the bb. The flop comes with all low unsuited cards. You now have a 24% chance of pairing one of your cards. It’s not always a bad idea to make a reasonable bet after the flop if everyone checks. However, once you get re-raised by someone then you have to reconsider your options. Most players that re-raise after some bets after the flop usually have a pretty good hand unless they know that you are a loose player.
11. When is the best time in the hand to bluff? I would say generally after the flop or turn. Betting on the river always looks like an attempt to buy the pot.
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