Any tips on bluffing

ChillinVillian

ChillinVillian

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So I can normally run fine in my tournys , but the other day I had someone watching me play (online) and when I was down to about 20 players in the field , they mentioned I was not bluffing any hands . I don't really know what a good starting hand is to bluff with ? And of course does position count if your trying to bluff anyways ? I seemed to have gone thru with this before and it seems I end up bluffing right into them , so I think I just gave that aspect of the game up . I know I will need to give this another go and have to be able to understand when to shut a bluff down or follow thru . Any help please !:confused:
 
therealslomo

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Only tip I have is to make sure it's a believable story. Most bluffs are set up well in advance and make sense in the context of the game and players.
 
BabyJesus64

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Every hand is good for bluffing and of course position matters. Keep watching your opponents and you'll find the ones who are playing very thight and only calling with big hands. Those are the easiest players to bluff. And I would recommend not try to bluff pots when there is more than 2-3 players with you. Most likely someone has a pretty good hand and will call your bluff.
 
skiptomyloot

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bluffing involves focus and raising hands as a preparation to telling a story against everyone on the table.

its gotta stick everytime you raise.also understand why you are trying to bluff and who you are doing it on. If a player is observant, they will counter a bluff and bluff back with something worse.

take note on who bluffs and try to understand why they decided to put in a bluff . it takes time to understand bluffing, youll get it down .. just keep at it .
 
BuvA7

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Well my advice to you would be dont bluff, just play your game, keep calm and ull hit what u need. Much better then bluff is to stay focused and try to guess what ur opponents might have and how they react to game. Read them and your "in the game" . If u think u have to bluff do it in a late stage of a turnament where the blinds are big and opponents cautious. Hope i helped whit something.
Cheers and good luck! ;)
 
hutzpaf

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Only tip I have is to make sure it's a believable story. Most bluffs are set up well in advance and make sense in the context of the game and players.

If you don't get caught in a bluff you bluff too seldon. Try first when the pot is small.
 
Mason Pye

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I believe the key to make any successful bluff is to make your story believable. Remember, if you don't have a strong holding, you don't always have to bluff- you can just fold. If I am going to bluff, I would try when semi-bluffing. This is because if we do get called, then we always have outs to improve, unlike stone cold bluffing. Hope this helps.
 
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As with everything in poker it all depends on the situation. Bluffing and semi bluffing is all a part of poker and in the late stages of a tournament it's a crucial part of the game

Early on when starting a tournament bluffing isn't really needed as the size of blinds in comparison to the starting stack means you can wait for the good hands to come, but when you get down to 20 players it's crucial that your stealing blinds.

You can widen your range of starting hands when in late position to try and win pots before the flop. However if you get called by the BB a lot of the time making a c-bet on the flop is enough to make them fold as they are protecting their chips and waiting for their monster hand. However if your in the cut off and get called by the button or the SB you have to proceed with caution as these will only usually call with a fairly strong range of hands.

If you have a good image early on in the tournament of not often stealing blinds then late on this image will work in your favour as people wont be quick to assume your stealing blinds.
 
rflbarreto

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Best tip to bluff is to be sure there is a consistency on your bets. If you limp pre floop and tries to overbet bluff on very high floop, makes no sense for me for instance
 
X

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Bluffing has so many purposes. It's important that you understand your opponents as well as your table image. I would suggest never bluffing when you're drawing dead, as Mason said, semi bluffing (bluffing a draw or 2 pair with a chance to boat) makes more sense than stone cold bluffing. You can use bluffing to switch up your table image also, if you get caught bluffing try to remember the pattern you displayed and display the same pattern when you have a monster.
Unless the blinds are killing your stack, I don't think there is a such thing has not bluffing enough in tournament poker.
 
EvertonGirl

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Don't bluff against calling stations they will call you down with a weak holding like a pair of 2s on a flush/straight board... It has happened to me a few times :D

Also as someone mentioned don't bluff against 2/3 players.

Being IP is a good chance to make a bluff "cbet" esapecially if there is a check before you, betting 2/3 of the pot can win you the pot. If you have stats on people that can help you decide when to bluff, if their fold to cbet is 100% it is an easy option to make a bluff.

Just remember don't bluff too often!

Hope that helps :)
 
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If you mean multi-table tournaments, I wouldn't bluff much there. It's pretty straight forward - stamina to play for 3-5 hours at least and mo mistakes is more important.

Meaning, you "bluff" only C-bets basicly, or if you have the confidence after you have big stack and others play really passive so to assure their seats in the bubble, this happens sometimes.

Otherwise, flops you feel are worth C-betting; yo.. that's it.
 
P

PokerRex

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Hmmm,

Don't know whether players will agree but nationality also matters in my view. Guys from region like brazil, Columbia and argentina etc. play very loose. Got to be very careful with them.

Just my two cents.
 
es530

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bluff is to tell a false story and make believe adversaries.
 
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xOneCoolHandx

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Only tip I have is to make sure it's a believable story. Most bluffs are set up well in advance and make sense in the context of the game and players.

This is the perfect advice. A bluff is about your story so you have to think about what story you have been telling. What is your table image? How have you been betting in certain situations. How does this situation compare to those? Have you been showing down strong hands or have you been caught in a bluff lately? In addition, you must have good reads on the other players. Some people will scream position, position, position, but would you rather be bluffing into a couple of super tight players out of position or a calling station in position? So, your reads on the other players are critical. Finally, examine the situation, if you are bluffing into a 9 6 2 rainbow flop, what are you trying to convince your opponents that you have? A pocket pair that hit a set, maybe an over-pair, maybe 78 suited. Did you play the hand you want them to think you have?

One last point is that it does matter what your playing and where your at in the game. Bluffing is much more difficult in freeroll and microstakes tourneys, especially early, it can also be pretty difficult when your playing small stake ring games or during the re-buy period in a lot of tournaments.

With all of this said, bluffing is essential to playing good poker and it is a skill worth learning.
 
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