Bluffing 101

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.00: Avoiding disaster

Probably the most important aspect of bluffing isn’t making a successful bluff, it’s avoiding disaster. Yeah, if you bluff successfully you gain chips, but if your bluff fails you could find yourself felted just that easy. Remember, “He who bluffs and folds away, plays to bluff another hand.” Ok, so it doesn’t rhyme. Whatever.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.01: Allow yourself to be bluffed

If you think they can't have it, think again. One of the biggest pitfalls in bluffing is having someone else bet or raise and you thinking they are bluffing. Almost all of the time they are not bluffing. A good bluffer is rarely going to act on a bluff in a pot where someone else is already making a strong play. So either they are a bad bluffer, or they have a hand they are not going to fold. Situations where acting on someone else’s bet or re-raise could be dangerous is when there is a flush or straight possibility on the board (3 to either), or when there is a high “playable” card on the board (A, K, Q) or even if there is a weak pair on the board. Unless you have a monstrous read on someone’s bluffing habits, I’d fold to an aggressive play.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.02: Missed Draws

Avoid bluffing when there is a missed draw on the board, such as 3 to a flush without the 4th card coming. Especially if you had bet earlier in the hand, people love to sniff out a missed draw bluff. People who don’t normally bluff will bluff a missed draw, so it becomes especially dangerous for you to try to bluff at them. If you were bluffing for the draw and missed, it’s best just to hit that check/fold button.

 

[dbchristy]

started reading this, and this is definitely for me. thanks alot

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.03: Avoid Re-raise bluffs

Almost never bluff a re-raise. Even bluffing raises is risky.
Opening the betting on a hand or street is the best way to bluff. Bluffing an opening bet is decent. But when someone has raised or even re-raised an opening bet then you know someone at the table has a good hand. Even if you were the one who opened the betting, if there’s a raise and a re-raise by the time it gets back to you, just throw it away. There’s no way all of those players are folding to a bluff.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.04: Avoid a lot of players

This may be obvious, but it is something I had to learn. It is almost impossible to get 3+ players to fold to a bluff. In some rare instances it can be done (such as if 4 to a flush lands on the board and no one has a good flush), but for the most part limit your bluffing to just 1-2 opponents.

 

[belka2203]

Very good posts! Thank you for the necessary and interesting information. I will apply your tips during the game.:congrats::icon_thum

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.05: Scare Cards Ruining a Bluff

Let’s say you bluff pre-flop and a low board comes. You bluff again thinking everyone missed and get a caller. Then an A or K comes. You may be tempted to increase your bluffing to show you have an A or K. But that’s not the story you were telling. Your story was that you had someone good based on a weak board. When the scare card comes, you need to abandon your bluff and fold if someone raises. They won’t believe you had both low and high cards you were hitting with.

 

[luckybest]

I think this is true. U have to stick to one thing if any flip flop based on what the board has sometime u have to fold a bluff or you'll be in the danger zone real quick

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.06: Abandoning large hand bluffs

There are times when you make a bluff announcing you have a large hand pre-flop, but then the flop comes all low cards. In this situation, you need to let the hand go. If you didn’t go all-in then people aren’t going to believe you were betting a large pair and if the board is all low cards then they won’t believe you hit the flop and may see a post-flop bet as the bluff it is.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.07: Beware the Short Stack

Be careful bluffing short stack players. If you don’t bluff enough of their stack (maybe %25) then they will call. If you bluff too much of their stack (maybe 90%), then they are going to say, “Screw it I’m all in” and you’re stuck either playing pot odds with crap or folding away to hide your bluff. Bluffing a short stack is surprisingly tricky.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.08: Use All-in bluffs Sparingly

All-in bluffs are especially risky because some people will call it just to knock you out. I’m not saying you should never use that tactic, but you should use it with care, because if it is called there is no way to out-play your opponent. You’ve just got to ride the hand out hoping you get hyper-lucky. And relying on luck is the bluffers worst enemy.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AS.09: Don’t bluff having 2 pair or trips

You can’t bluff 2 pair or 3 of a kind because they are not visible hands to the other players. They can’t see your 2 hidden cards, so they can’t assume you have them. For instance, if the flop comes A72, you can bluff a large ace, but you cannot bluff having A7 or 22 because people just don’t see those possibilities. Anyone with a large Ace is calling your bluff. Never assume the person you are up against is smart enough to think of two-pair or trips. Even if a pair is on the board, they probably assume you don’t have trips just because a pair is on the board.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.10: Don’t over-bluff

The reality is, you don’t want them to call. However, if you shove a huge amount, it can tell the opponents you’re trying to push them off the pot. Which is exactly what you’re trying to do. Instead, imagine you hit the nuts. How would you bet in that situation? You probably would not go all-in because you would want callers, right? Or maybe you’re a player who would go all-in, I don’t know. Whatever the case, play it the same way you would play a made hand which usually entails a bet that wants to be called.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.11: Avoid bluffing with a huge stack

Avoid bluffing someone with a much smaller stack than you. It may sound counter-intuitive, but remember, lots of people start bully (bluffing and semi-bluffing) when they have a huge stack. This means people are going to be watching for huge stack bluffs more so than mid-stack bluffs. If you’ve got a huge stack in a tourney, don’t get greedy with it, go back to playing your normal game and let the bluffing wait for a better position (stack size).

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS AD.12: Beware the huge pots

Huge pots may be tempting, but try to not bluff into a large pot unless you’re prepared to bluff half if not all the pot. If you don’t bet huge into a huge pot the pot odds will just make people call and cost you even more chips. If you’re not willing to bluff big when the pot is big, just fold and wait for a better spot.

 

[AKQ]

I will show my cards after a bluff while in tournaments to promote action.I like it when ppl feel the need to expand there range and make call downs of second best. Its also my personal opinion that the faster you can accumulate chips is the key to takin 1st place finishes. Phill Hellmuth bluffs so well and so often he'll tell ya and none of those bluffs ever make the tv during those wsop runs.He doesnt show his cards but everyone knows his preflop betting% is high .So Q8 offsuit calls and we show phill getting stacked by the guy from missouri lol

 

[WhereDidMyEVGo]

You can’t bluff 2 pair or 3 of a kind because they are not visible hands to the other players. They can’t see your 2 hidden cards, so they can’t assume you have them. For instance, if the flop comes A72, you can bluff a large ace, but you cannot bluff having A7 or 22 because people just don’t see those possibilities. Anyone with a large Ace is calling your bluff. Never assume the person you are up against is smart enough to think of two-pair or trips. Even if a pair is on the board, they probably assume you don’t have trips just because a pair is on the board.

I'm confused. Are we representing a big ace or bluffing someone who has one?

 

[This Fish Chums]

I'm confused. Are we representing a big ace or bluffing someone who has one?

In this case you can try to represent you have an Ace, but you can't try to represent you have 2 pair because if they have an Ace they just won't see it that way. Unless someone is really really good, they're not going to fold a good ace thinking you have 2 pair or trips.

 

[CallmeFloppy]

You can’t bluff 2 pair or 3 of a kind because they are not visible hands to the other players. They can’t see your 2 hidden cards, so they can’t assume you have them. For instance, if the flop comes A72, you can bluff a large ace, but you cannot bluff having A7 or 22 because people just don’t see those possibilities. Anyone with a large Ace is calling your bluff. Never assume the person you are up against is smart enough to think of two-pair or trips. Even if a pair is on the board, they probably assume you don’t have trips just because a pair is on the board.

Think this is a great point that is not considered by a lot of newer players. I think some players pick a hand in their head that will beat their opponent and think they are representing it. You have to think about what hands would my opponent legitimately be afraid of and would trying to represent it make sense with how the hand has played so far.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS BT.00: Bluffing tips

This section is just a bunch of misc. tips I’ve gathered about making bluffs a little more successful. The goal in bluffing is to make your opponent think you want them to call. There are certain things you can do to accomplish that. Mostly it’s just playing the way you would play the hand if you actually had hit a big hand. But there are ways you can improve the chances of someone thinking you have made your hand.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS BT.01: Bluffing non-round numbers.

I honestly don’t know why this works, it just seems to work. Try bluffing non-round numbers. I like to use the smaller part of my stack. For instance, if I have 6157 chips, and I want to bluff 200, I’ll bluff 257 instead. I think it looks to the opponent like you are trying to get him to call as many chips as possible. I honestly don’t know why, but it seems to work. But always remember, if you're going to do it when bluffing, you need to do it when you have the made hand to get people thinking your bluffs are made hands.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS BT.02: The fear factor

Something to consider when bluffing. If you're not going all-in, but plan on shipping it on a later street, you want to leave enough in your stack to scare people into folding. Probably bluff 70-80% of your stack if you plan on going all-in post-flop or on a later street. If you've got a decent amount left in your stack, the opponent might be afraid to call it knowing you’re just going to ship it after the flop or on the later street.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS BT.03: Avoiding Gambler Calls

Poker is ultimately made up of gamblers. That’s the nature of the game. This can work against you when bluffing. If you bet too low, the opponent will obviously call. But if you bet too high, especially too much of the opponents stack, they will call or even shove just because it’s worth a gamble. You need to fin a sweet spot between the two. First, try focusing on the size of the pot and bluffing 50-75% or so of the pot size. Unless, the opponent has a small stack, in which case you should bet about 50-75% of the opponent’s stack size.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS BT.04: Timing a Bluff

Timing a bluff properly is very important. If you’re someone who always bets a specific time every hand to disguise hand quality, then do that with bluffs as well. If you’re everyone else who doesn’t have perfect timing, then consider the timing of the bluff.
Let’s say you know you’re going to bluff the flop from early position. If you bet too fast then it looks to everyone as though you had made up your mind to bet even before the flop came. Which is what you did. In early position, take a little bit of time to think it over, well to pretend to think it over. If you bet too fast in early position people will sniff out your bluff.
On the other hand, if you’re in late position you have to treat it as though you had time to think about the bluff already and when it comes around to you you’re ready and even eager to make a quick aggressive play at the pot. Otherwise people are going to wonder why you took so long making the bet after you had all that time to think about it.
Timing a bluff properly can be the key between getting people to fold and getting called.