Some very general questions:
-What kind of board textures do you bluff raise?
-How does that change vs different opponents? ie thinking vs non-thinking? aggro vs passive?
-Are you more likely to do it in position or out of position? Does this change based on flop texture/type of opponent?
-What type of flop textures are you more likely to float rather than bluff raise?
I find some pretty conflicting opinions on this and would like to hear more.
When answering these questions, I'm defining "bluff raise" as a hand that has very little chance of being best or of improving. In other words, I'm not including raising flushdraws or open-enders on the flop. Also, I'm talking only about raising the flop (not turn or river).
Also, the all-important disclaimer: I play a 18/15 style 6-max, so simply for that reason I don't get to have "air" anywhere near as often as someone who plays 24/20 or whatever.
#1: Texture. I think it's easier to say what kind of texture I'm
not raising as a bluff, and that is coordinated boards. The problem with raising coordinated boards is that a lot of people have a hard time folding even medium pairs because they'll so happily assume you have a draw. And that's not even accounting for the fact that they may well have some kind of a draw themselves and will just reraise you. So when I bluffraise, it's probably not going to be on a board like J-T-8 twotone. I like
bluffing really dry flops where my opponent can realistically believe that I have a hand like a medium pocket pair trying to protect from overcards, e.g. a flop like J-3-3, where I could conceivably have for instance 66-TT.
#2: Different opponents. I basically don't bluffraise non-thinking opponents on the flop, mostly because I don't think they fold often enough. I guess it depends on what you mean by "thinking" but I don't make money by bluffing bad players, I typically make money valuebetting them. If I'm seeing a flop vs a fish I'm hoping to hit. I keep "fold-flop-cbet-to-raise%" up in the HUD, and I go by that more than the kind of player I'm facing.
If I'm bent on bluffing very aggressive players, I try my best to do it in a way that sets me up to get the last raise in because what I really don't want to have happen is for them to rebluff me. But even then, it's rare for me to do it without SOME chance of winning; I very rarely go out on an all-in bluff with air. I like at least some kind of backdoor draw or overcard to fall back on the times that I get looked up. But like I said, I'm a nit, so it's hard for me to have absolutely nothing.
#3: I'm more likely to do it in position, because I'm much more likely to have air in position than out of position. If we're talking semibluffs (flushdraws, combodraws, etc), then I'm probably more likely to get it in out of position mostly to negate the positional disadvantage while I still have a lot of
equity, but it's rare for me to have 87s out of position.
#4: Floating instead of raising: When I float, I'm typically representing either a big top pair, a monster or a medium PP taking one off, so it has to be a board that I can play like that. For instance a board like Q-7-3 where I flatcalled an MP raise on the button, he c-bets and I call. I could have 77, 33, KQ, AQ or a hand like TT. If I have a hand like JTs with a backdoor flush, this would be the kind of board I might float to try to take it away on the turn. But I very rarely float any flop without some chance of improving to what could conceivably be the best hand.