When is it appropriate to value bet bluff vs all in bluff?

I'm finding different approaches and strategies work at different levels and vs different types of players. Does anybody have a good rule of thumb or insight when it isappropriate to value bet bluff vs all in bluff? Always appreciate the discussions and different view points from all players of all stakes!

In tourney play I like to use the bluff as a tool positionally to keep chip count up so I can catch a good hand

Only use all in bluffs when your oppponent has fold equity!
Value bet bluffs on dry boards when scare cards turn or river or check min raise by opponent then min raise again sometimes that works a lot mostly blind on blind when both of you do not have monsters hands good luck.

Do you ever use min raises as bluffs on the river? Or do you only use the min raise on the river to induce a raise?

This is a great question and I'm looking forward to seeing others' responses.

For me, I rarely if ever bluff shove, I do sometimes value bet bluff if the board makes sense and I feel I'm against a villain that actually understands the board texture. I think it's futile to try to bluff against players who you feel do not understand the board and are only absolutely playing their own hand not considering your possibilities. My opinion on the matter is that way too many players bluff shove without understanding why (does the story they're telling make any sense and even if it does do their readers/viewers of said story understand it anyways?).

As for min raise bluffs, I think they often fall flat and fail because "it's only X amount more" villian may think to bluff catch you with their A high or low pair.


I think a value bet bluff against a villian that can find the fold button on a board that makes sense to do so on can be effective. I want to bet the least amount to get the job done, I also see little point in risking my entire stack (cash or tourney) to win a pot when the same fold can be achieved with a smaller value bet against certain villians. Plus, if I think villian has no fold button, I'll sometimes give up the pot, no point in getting check/shoved into oblivion (see my recent post on how I should have taken my own advice!) when the villian probably isn't going to fold and probably has me beat with a bingo hand or low pair.

Thanks for the reply, as im grinding micro stakes.. i am finding that both do work, however I do agree that risking all of your stack on an all in bluff that can very well get called is too risky. However, it seems almost necessary at times for "balancing" purposes.. especially when i am playing HU i feel as if i need to shove nutted hands on the river a few times and do the same with bluffs to make my opponent think twice when making big river calls. I like putting that pressure on my opponents and really making them decide long and hard about calling.

Regarding the stations: I do not like to pull any bluffs against somebody that has showed a tendency to call with q or k high on a very wet board. Players of this nature i will just sometimes give up as well knowing that regardless he is calling. .. however the exact opposite is true that when i see weakness from 3 bets often.

After assessing some of my recent micro stakes hands it does in fact seem to be a smarter play to just value bet bluff than all in bluff. This is very player dependent, but in general it seems like a value bluff is good enough to take down a lot of pots.