How to spot a Bluff

I'm very interested in knowing from a good players perspective; what are some of the not so obvious ways to spot a bluff?

Some people are easy to read because they play consistently (good or bad). I like to keep my inconsistent. Checking when I have a great hand one hand, then making a big bet the next hand. Making a decent bet when I have nothing (usually when the blinds just passed me) in hopes of getting the BB and SB to fold, etc. I think the most common bluffs are big stacks (in which you really have to be careful about because they always seem to catch what they need) and small stacks...desperate to make people fold.

Bluffing, is the hardest thing for me to figure out online. Amatuer had some great ways of being inconsistent, however to me consistentcy is the key, I make the same raises, and same bets no matter what. Thats why it is hard to tell when one is bluffing online, you have no body language to watch.

Yeah pretty much all us online players have to go on is the betting patterns of your opponent....but occasionally the TIMING of how my opponent bets gives me some information, like if they quickly fire out a huge bet usually they're bluffing or whatnot

The problem with trying to "read" the bluff is it puts you in the position of risking money on a marginal hand. There is certainly a time and position to bluff, but there is no shame in being bluffed out of a hand from time to time.

The only case where I try to call someone's bluff is if a decent raise is done on river with no preflop or flop raise.
I know I can fall into a trap but many times this is my cue for a bluff

i like to use the timer to my advantage when playing...i will let the timer run down when i know i have my opponenet beat to make him think i am trying to think about the hand and appear weak.....this works alot for me because they will alot of time go all in over my raise and then i got em....try it sometime...let the timer run down to almost the end and then raise it and see what happens....

"Reading" is so much tougher online. All you have to go by is your opponents' betting patterns and position usage. Timing can be used as well but I tend not to rely on this as a lot of factors come into play; ie. lag, multi-tabling, misclick possibility.

Instead of spotting bluffs to call with marginal hands, my advice would be to first learn to spot situations where you should fold a good hand. Learning to play the sheriff can wait.

...unless you're already pretty good at this which in that case just ignore my post entirely =)

spotting a bluff is probably the hardest thing to do in poker... i would say especially with online poker.. you can only notice the betting patterns and the timing of your opponents in bets.. there arent any live tells so all you can see is the timing and amount of the bets... you need to analyze the bets and come to conclusions based on that.. you'll make bad reads from time to time but with more experience and time, you'll probably find that you can spot bluffs here and there..

Just call every bet, that way you can't be bluffed .

But seriously, most of the time against non-maniacs you don't have to worry about snapping off bluffs. Good situations though are when there are a ton of missed draws and villain bets out. Just like any other situation, you have to assign a range to your opponent. If you beat the majority (or have good equity before the river) you generally should be calling or raising. You'll never know for sure if they're bluffing, but bluffing usually can turn a marginal fold to a call, like say you're not sure your top pair 4 kicker is good but there was a flush draw on the flop that didn't hit. You should then be more inclined to call because a busted flush draw is now in his range.

So you really shouldn't worry about the one question "is he bluffing?" unless you are against a good opponent with a decent amount of history. If your hand only beats a bluff, you have to be damn sure it's a bluff before calling. The only real way though is practice and experience. Practice putting opponents on ranges. If either the range goes to 0 (ie no range makes sense) or is extremely top-heavy (ie you think he either flopped a straight or is on a bluff), then it's more likely to be a bluff.

one of the easiest ways for me to pick up on a bluff is the way people bet post flop when they raised preflop. if someone doesnt have a pocket pair and they raise preflop, they only hit 33 % of the time. so if your are strong or even on a good draw post flop check raising or flat calling to see if the person slows down after turn are good options. the best is the pot size bet on a rainbow 2 6 J board or something like that. lotta people cant help but bet big all the time post flop hit or miss.

Generally I find that when the story just seems off and theres a gut feeling telling me that somethings wrong, I find that I'm often right and the guy gets caught with his pants down.

Zach basically summed it up, but one more thing. There is no shame to being bluffed if calling is -EV in the long run

I only play tournaments, so in that context, I agree with those who say not to worry about it too much. A lot of times I fold, saying to myself "he's bluffing". But if he's bluffing now he'll bluff later and I'll catch him sooner or later. Some guys like to show you their cards to show you they were bluffing. Don't let it get to you. They're just trying to set you up for later so they can rake a big pot when you think you're "calling his bluff" and he actually has the hand. I love it when they think I'm "calling their bluff" when in reality I just have a better hand. So don't worry about it.

dave

Spottin bluffs is hard on line. Betting patterns, stack size, and timing are to be considered. Also the image of the player u suspect of bluffing must be considered. It is easier to bluff if I have established a tight image, or if I have been winning hands and showing strong hands.
Calling bluffs? Thats why they call it gambling.

When you have the NUTS!
But seriously, Take into account position, previous bets (especially pre flop), stack size, previous play (table image) AND YOUR TABLE IMAGE, Plus gut feeling.
When you have the forth best hand (like top pair) and a straight or a flush is possible - just fold to a big bet, unless everything above points to BLUFF.
-Good Luck

Online the only thing I trust are betting patterns. Depending on opponents, some of them might be predictable, for example one opponent Overbets the pot when he has a great hand, another opponent bets exactly the pot when he's bluffing. (It varies from player to player obviously) Betting patterns! And don't worry about calling bluffs with marginal hands.

That's the whole idea! You DON'T spot a bluff if the "Bluffer" does it right! And is any good at it!

Bluffing is done alot in freerolls , pattern players take note of their betting hand when shown, they will tip their hand sooner ar later. Other than that only a feeling or a idea by how they bet says he doesnt have the hand.

i personaly just try and put myself in there position and think is this a situation i would bluff and if i would would this be a bet that i would make.

You said it... there is a way to find the big bluffers in a game. what i like to do is setup a trap and just check the hand and let it go to him when he puts out a bet jump over him with one see if he will call... i did this in a game last night to show every at the table he was bluffing and he lost 10K in chips he just kept calling even tho they were semi bluffs... It works in MTTs but un sure how it will work in real money games.......
hope it helps out

To any of you find that an all in over the pot size after the river is usually a bluff? In my experience it usually is, but would like to hear opinions from other players.

The best way is to play different cards the same. E.G., raise the same with A-A and 2-2. This way, even if you do get caught bluffing, your opponents don't have too much info on you. Now how to spot a bluff is a different monster...

Well, reading a persons bluff is easier for some people, usually the more expirienced. You cant be fixed on one idea though, cause a lot of the times the bluffers tend to notice these things and the next time they will repeat the same trait when they have a huge hand. Online, all you can really do is watch how the person plays and catch on some of the persons patterns. Hopefully youll see when he usually bluffs and catch him on one of them with your marginal winning hand. Good luck at the tables

Buy this book and reverse engineer...

It is true that it's hard to tell online because you can't actually see the person, but let's say I have a middle pocket pair. And I raise pre-flop. The flop comes. If I am bluffing, I am going to bet big, because I don't want the the next guy to be on a draw and suck me out later on. If I have something good. Let's say I hit trips, I'll probably bet twice or three times the BB assuming that I will have the best hand (not always) and hoping that the other guy will call. If some bets the min bet, I will usually re-raise them, if they call they have something. Many people bluff with the exponential bet. Let's say they raise pre-flop, bet the flop, then double that bet on the turn, and double their turn bet on the river. If you don't have anything you are probably folding by the flop or the turn, and they have a good bluff, if you have something I'd suggest a large re-raise and see where they stand. Also just to mix things up in a game, I'd suggest once in a while raising preflop with hands you wouldn't normally raise with. It will keep the people at your table guessing

I have the same experience as you Dave18 online. If my hand is good and I feel that every thing tells me to bet, i'm going with my hand. I play alot of online tournements and run into big stacks that will go all-in when every other player at the table doesn't have a chip stack even close to the all-in bet. If I like my hand, in I go, bluffer or not. Sometimes it is a bluff and sometimes I get taken down.

There is always another tournement to play. My bigger problem is how to get to the final table. I'm pretty good at getting almost there, but not there - Must be a personal problem. Maybe I need to try bluffing myself since that could be a problem because I don't do much bluffing unless the situation actually is crying out for a bluff - - Beats me.

The main think you look for are the patterns. You concentrate on looking at how he plays his hands, and hopefully you get to see a lot of them. That way youll have a basic idea of what he choses to play, and how he plays them. Now... you could always try to be the "pro" and start looking at a shaking hand, but that won't really work unless you are a very expirienced player and know what too look for in that sense. The patterns are very important, and once you master this theres no telling where you will go . Good luck at the tables!

I won't even get into online issues since I never play there. As far as live play, the previous poster said it, betting patterns are the best way. I know one player i regularly run into at the local casino in 1-2NL games always bets 15$ when he is either bluffing or extremely weak (ex. bottom pair on the flop) regardless, any over the top bet back at him and he folds. Last week I noticed one player was always betting 50$ on the river with strong hands and that twice he bet 35$ and was bluffing with Ace high....I never got the chance but if he came at me for 35$ on the river, it didnt matter if I had 8-4 offsuit....if it was just me and him I was coming over the top back at him and knew he was folding. There are some of those generic tells such as he's staring you down he's weak but be cautious here as I find more often than not a stare down on the river means strength, stare downs on the flop and turn more often mean weakness. If possible look at the chest and see if there is any breathing, if you see absolutely no breathing going on or even can visibly tell their holding their breath, there is a good chance its a complete bluff or a hand they can be pushed off. If their eating/chewing gum and have stopped chewing thats another dead give away of weakness.

all about watching each oppenant and looking how aggresive they are and then lookin at the board and the bet see if they overbet to try to steal it but b cutious the good players overbet on purpose to try to fool the good players

BM0529: I have some idea about patterns but sometimes online you get switched from table to table so fast you don't have any time to know who is doing what -- it is by guess and by god. PokerStars will switch quite often in tournements that have alot of all-in bettors. Admittedly they are the cheap games - but that is what I play. If I can't beat em in a low cost game I'm not going to start putting big bucks up for grabs.

Providing the suspected bluffer leaves room, reraising often sorts things out.