HOW 2 SPOT A BLUFF

[dan_ives]

ive been playing poker for about 6 months roughly and becoming a good player i still think i can be read fairly easily by experienced players..bt thats for the future.. i just wana no if theirs any tips in stone cold bluffs or anything related to spoting a bluff talking about online poker mainly

 

[RochesterRalph]

One bluff to read

If you have poket Aces and two come on the flop, and the other guy raises ya...he's bluffin. Seriously if you have the nuts no one can bluff you..so if you play tight and bet strong hands and the nuts only, then most times any bets into you or over the top, they are bluffin and not very well.

 

[Suited Frenzy]

Practice

Well spotting bluffs while in online play is just like spotting bluffs in live play being that you have to have either the gift of reading people or having the experience to do so. You said you've only been playing for 6 months so that's not nearly enough time to be good @ anything much less reading people over the internet which is really tough to do. So my advice is to just take your time & practice practice practice & you'll get good @ everything that you set your mind to. Trust me, reading people online takes A LOT of knowledge. Knowledge in anything = experience. GL always on the tbls.

 

[Lana_Faith]

Lana's Online Poker Bluffing Guide for Idiots

Rule #1: No one bluffs in online poker.
Rule #2: Everyone bluffs in online poker.

 

[coolkennylee]

Pay attention to your opponents at ALL TIMES. Every time he clicks is information. Also, Test him one period. What i like to do is play with my opponent a little bit and learn his style (opponent raised, re-raise your opponent if u think he's bluffing, see if he is a strong player and calls). Mix up your strageties such as betting amounts to confuse your opponent. Just try to put pressure on your opponent.

 

[dan_ives]

ye i do ..as i play more i tend to notice a minum rerasie is 2 a bluff is it just me or wt ???

 

[aliengenius]

It's all about betting patterns. Look for weird bets: minimum bets, massive overbets, etc. combine that with what you know about the player, combined further with the texture of the flop.

Sometimes one persons mini bet is tptk, sometimes it's a weak continuation bet. Sometimes a massive overbet is someone scared of the two flush cards on the flop trying to protect their hand, sometimes it's ATo that missed and just wants you to fold. Sometimes you can punish a good players continuation bet without any cards at all.... sometimes...

Figuring all this out is part of what makes poker interesting and challenging, and why the answer to questions like "how do you know if it's a bluff?" is always "it depends".

ps. in my experience the mini raise is always a monster (on-line) IF it is a raise of a legitimate bet (2/3 to 3/4 or pot bet). If it's a mini raise of a mini bet or some other smaller bet it's often times a weak attempt "re-steal" without committing or an attempt to just take the lead back in the hand (could also be a real hand depending on how weak/poor the player is).

 

[ginNjuice]

Lana's Online Poker Bluffing Guide for Idiots

Rule #1: No one bluffs in online poker.
Rule #2: Everyone bluffs in online poker.

?????????? please explain this

 

[Suited Frenzy]

?????????? please explain this

LOL, i think Lana is being sarcastic. Are you Lana???

 

[HartAttack3]

?????????? please explain this

This is just a guess, but my experience tells me that when you think someone is bluffing they never are, and when you give them credit for aces they flip over 2-3 o/s and show the huge bluff to laugh about for the next hour. Just a guess but thats how life seems to go online lol

 

[ph_il]

watch betting patterns. Look for odd bets.
If i can afford it (like early on in a tournament) I'll call a loose player down just to see his/her hand.

Bets like 11-12x the bb early in a tournament is a bit odd.

Look for people who do huge bets PF 9/10x, then suddenly raise the mininum with a hand. If you're lucky, they'll get callers and you'll see they had AA. So, then you can get an idea how they [possibly] play there big hands.

I usually dont test these 'bluffs' preflop, but I like to after the flop. I think its a bit easier to determine if they have a hand or not.

EX: its heads up and there is 200 in the pot. Opponent bets 20. Come over the top. 9/10 when this happend, they folded.

If they re-raise or push all in, then you either have to lay it down or consider if you have the best hand or not.

 

[Lana_Faith]

LOL, i think Lana is being sarcastic. Are you Lana???

Absolutely not. I'm being completely dead-on serious. And to those nay-sayers who like to tell me that these two viewpoints are mutually exclusive and therefore impossible, I say this: [SIZE=-1]sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.[/SIZE]

 

[Prolaznik]

?????????? please explain this

I'll try to explain instead of Lana...

If you fold - they are bluffing
If you call - they have the nuts, or at least hand better than yours

 

[Red Oak RDU]

play more thats all i have to say

 

[thwizzofoz]

Basically it comes down to paying attention to all the details and nuances of the table you are at. Every player bluffs, but, you don't know the read until they are caught. The only way to catch them is to see their cards, or outbid them into a fold. Either way, make sure you have the hand to back up yours, or you lose your valuable table repuation, which helps you when you pull off the successful bluff.

 

[jmiller218]

Most of the time when playing online i find that people when the board pairs or there is a straight of flush there. Also since there are so many beginners out there really people will play any two cards and will bet with any two cards. You just have to pay attention to the people at your table.

 

[Lana_Faith]

I'll try to explain instead of Lana...

If you fold - they are bluffing
If you call - they have the nuts, or at least hand better than yours

'zackly.

 

[Welly]

It is always worth keeping a close eye on possible draws they could be chasing. You'd be amazed how many players in NL will chase a draw to the river (or semi-bluff to the river), then bet relatively large when they actually miss.

They contiously, or otherwise, know this is the only way they can win the pot.

 

[reglardave]

If you could always spot the bluffs, you'd be way aheadof the game.

 

[tiltboy]

Theres no hard and fast rule of spotting bluffs. This is down to intuition you develop with experience. You have to take risks make mistakes and learn from them to develop your intuition.

Starting out i would advise playing a solid game analysing the table and attempting to spot bluffs in hands your not involved in.

 

[alexanderwoo1]

Sometimes bluffs come in overbetting the pot or small bets usually. Also pay attention to everything they do such as time for move, and what they've done before the hand.

 

[martygokona]

just to add... the time it takes to make the wager. sometimes fast bets are weak.

 

[hornellfred]

I usually look for unusual bets especially if the one pushing the pot has laid off. Bluffing is an art and when I do it I usually read that the other player is weak. I am not bluffing, I am betting that you do not have enough to call. With flush and straight draws on the board and two players check to me, then I would raise to steal the pot. If you have enough to call I lost my bet.

 

[orangepeeleo]

All of the above, plus another thing, don't talk urself into changing your mind about what u put the villian on, i have sometimes (in hindsight) made a good read of a players hand but talked myself into a stupid river call by somehow going thru the hand in my head and changing his possibilities totally, just because theres a chance he might be havin me on lol!! Just play ur position, tight, specially in cash games, and like another posters said, you can't be bluffed because you have a monster.

 

[young hova]

look for people acting out of character and this comes alot in situations where alot of times people out of position would check raise / check call. I raised JJ up on the button I had a very very very loose image in a tourney, BB that I raised on usually folds to resistance but this time I had a feeling that he was just about getting tired of me raising in general so he calls, players is relatively TAG.

Flop comes something like K 9 7, he's BB and he instantly shoves pot makes it a 50 g pot. That just seemed out of character to me based on how he played, He seemed like the type that would play that flop safe out of position and would either check call or check raise. He instantly bet without even considering what I could have and thats another clue when player completely disregards what you can have before making their decision that would normally consider what you have. Also that was somewhat of an anxious move, he knew he had to bet because he was scared if I bet he wouldn't be able to call, it just seemed like a shove and hope/ a stop-n-go move taking place. An anxious/impatient bet from someone that doesn't typically bet fast is always a sign something is up