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neart13
Rock Star
Silver Level
Range study can help, also your villain's actions and then it doesn't hurt to hold a card that your opponent might need!
tauri103
Legend
Silver Level
the best bluff is the one we build preflop. when you show strength from the start. your opponents will believe you more easily on the flop if they don't hit anything. but the most important factor is your image at the table. if you play very few hands and are used to playing tight. your opponents avoid paying you too much. he has some players who are more passive than others. it is always a good idea to identify and benefit from them.
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Lord Foma
Rock Star
Silver Level
kowrip
Rock Star
Silver Level
You need to work some bluffs into your game if you want to be successful. They don't need to be complicated. At a minimum, you should be using c-bets and semi-bluffs on a straight draw (semi-bluff). The type of game plays a big factor in bluff frequency and type. For example, I rarely try more sophisticated bluffs at the lower stakes since there are a lot more calling stations and weaker players who won't understand the play. At higher stakes, bigger bluffs can be very effective, especially if you have developed a tight image.
xOneCoolHandx
Legend
Bronze Level
This is a great topic. Bluffing is really an art form. There are great bluffing situations and there are terrible bluffing situations. Knowing the difference will determine whether you are a successful poker player or not because you HAVE TO bluff at times. You are not always going to have the best hand.
The best time to bluff is when you have a clear range and nut advantage (if you don't know what that means, then spend some time studying it). To put it simply, if there are a lot of cards that favor your range or would give you the nuts on the board as compared to your opponent, even if you don't have any of them, then you can profitably bluff at that hand. For example: You have 66 from UTG+1. You raise to 3 BBs and the BB calls. The flop comes QT5. If you think about it, the BB has a wide range but there are not a lot of Queens, Tens or Fives (and you are leading hands like A5s), but there are lots of Queens, Tens, overpairs and big draws in your range. You have both the range and nut advantage and this is a good spot to bluff (or, more accurately semi-bluff but you could still bluff the same with A6s, K9, J9, ect).
However, a flop like T97 will often hit the BBs range. There are lots of suited and unsuited connectors in his range giving him lots of pairs, two pairs and strong draws. There are still overpairs and sets in your range, but there are also just a lot of big cards. So the range and nut advantage has shifted over to the opponent. NOT a good time to bluff (because 66 is more of a bluff hand at this point, it may be the best hand at the moment, but it will not likely remain the best hand by the river.)
Knowing the difference with range and nut advantage will make your bluffs more profitable and you will find that you can repeat them. Sometimes you will get caught, but that's ok. Depending on your bet size, you only need to be successful a certain percentage of the time for these plays to be profitable.
sharipov8090
Legend
Silver Level
Bluff is the main component of the game of poker.Without bluffing, you will never win.You need to clearly calculate the risks when you are bluffing.Whether you're in a good position to bluff or not.Sometimes the situation gets out of your control and your bluff is exposed.This is the game accept its rules and enjoy it!Good luck to you friend!
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StepUp
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Bluffing too much in wrong spots is bad but if you know what when and whom you can bluff the game will be funnier and more exiting. Bluff is one of the hardest techniques to use during your games so just pick the right spots to bluff and take more pots as you play.
Doblador bus
Rock Star
Silver Level
Hello, as they are, the lamp in Micaso I apply after studying my opponents, everything depends on the stack of chips, the button and the development of the game, but in my opinion the most important thing is to detect the fearful players
Akinled
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Even though he might be bluffing i would just give up on the flop right away and be done with it.
jordanbillie
Legend
Bronze Level
Honestly, this falls into the category of things that cannot be taught. It's an intuition mostly, which is why players like Tom Dwan were so successful because he (they) knew when to mix in the proper bluff. This facet of poker is the art form, it can only be crafted by experience and experimentation.
Good luck!
jordanbillie
Legend
Bronze Level
This is a well thought out response, and I feel that your point regarding "range and nut advantage" is very applicable to PLO. I have FEASTED in PLO by bluffing board textures against very tight and passive opponents. Honestly, this is the most important aspect of being a winning HU PLO player.
Great response!
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praevus
Rock Star
Silver Level
You need to know who to do against, how to do it, and adapt to different situations.
In the early stage it is not very good to bluff, as there are many players who want to see the cards, so you have to show your cards. If you play against a guy who always pays it is not worth bluffing, but if you play against rock the player can bluff, but if he pays or raises it is probably better to fold.
Bluffing is very important, but it has to be done at the right time and against players that you can take advantage of. Another important thing, for the bluff to work better you have to have already shown that you have a good hand, it is no use just calling and on the river going all in without hitting anything that could have improved your hand at river. Bluffing is like telling a story (in case you have a winning hand).
In the early stage it is not very good to bluff, as there are many players who want to see the cards, so you have to show your cards. If you play against a guy who always pays it is not worth bluffing, but if you play against rock the player can bluff, but if he pays or raises it is probably better to fold.
Bluffing is very important, but it has to be done at the right time and against players that you can take advantage of. Another important thing, for the bluff to work better you have to have already shown that you have a good hand, it is no use just calling and on the river going all in without hitting anything that could have improved your hand at river. Bluffing is like telling a story (in case you have a winning hand).
TheDude6622
Legend
Silver Level
Bluffing is part of the game. We have to realize that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. There's no right or wrong really. You just have to pick your spots, try to give a tight image, and realize how the other players are playing.
gravac
Rock Star
Silver Level
You can always have AA AK KK JJ so in poker you are good or your skill are valuated when you play the small hands like monster that separate the average player from advanced or pro players. You must bluff in some situations to win the hand and stay in tour with good stack of chips, as blinds are getting bigger and bigger. Depends in what type of tour you are bluffing and how much. In slow deep stack tournaments you should using bluff in quite small situations, in normal or fast tour. you need to be more aggressive in order to maintain your stack. First you must be part of the table, if you are in constant fold then even the double blind raise, will turn the alarm at others players because of your very tight play. When you are more included in hands its very difficult for opponents to mark you as a calling station or you are having luck and getting solid starting hands often. I don't recommend to be so much included in the games but I don't want also to be distanced quite much, because you cant wait to have only good cards to play, its impossible its poker! So after you decide what kind of player you are, then you need that to transfer to other players. Its very important from which position you are doing the business, big b,small, or other, begin with bluff pre-flop so players will be informed that you "have" smt, then continue with maybe check-raise or all in after turn, but be careful every time, watch how much time will be needed on that player to bet or check, usually fast check mean nothing or monster on flop, also if you bet and you are raised very fast often that mean strong hands. But knowing this "facts" you can use them in your benefit. It's called reverse psychology, ex: When you want kid to do something, just tell him not to do and from knowing their level of intolerance they will just do the opposite. This is example of reverse psychology, does not mean that every time will be effective. So bluff comes with the years of playing and more played hands. Very important information is how much is starting capital. If players lose 2/5/10 dollars for someone that does not mean much, but for others it is. So if the starting capital invested is key. If you are on the edge for winning 1500$ and you invested 10, sure you don't want to lose with bluff at this time and having argue with yourself why you do that. Knowing when and what that will bring to you is a key, that's how bluff should be sometime small sometime big and winning with bluff is more satisfying then winning with poker A's, but the question is: Does he will fold ?
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MaZeee323
Enthusiast
Silver Level
When you have a tight image and really don’t get nice hands sometimes it can hepls you to get your blinds back or if somebody calls and there is a suited board you can make your opponnent thinking that you hit the flush e.g. There are many strategys to bluff. If nobody knows that you’re bluffing there is no reason to be afraid but to often will make you implausible.
Risto234
põrandaalune pokkerimängija
Loyaler
Saw 2 "geniuses" in today's cc event who have no idea what to do if third person is showing signs of sitting out :bebored: ...
... therefore luckily i managed to bluff one of these amateurs away from my table so that was positive sign i'd imagine
... therefore luckily i managed to bluff one of these amateurs away from my table so that was positive sign i'd imagine
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kalelisback
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Ethically its wrongs, equates to lying
BUT, in poker, since its essential, you may want to avoid stone cold bluff in the beginning (garbage hands, nothing hits the board) ....start with semi-bluff, where your opponent checks to you and you have a flush draw, open ended straight draw.
Main thing is to watch your opponents tendencies... if they play tight and fold if they dont hit, these are the best to bluff to.
Also, if you happen to call a raise, you can always expect your opponent to do a continuation bet. In that case, if you've narrowed their hand to high cards, and all low card hit the board, you can do a check-raise bluff. This can work many times if the flop is dry.