Bluffing 101

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.00: Post-flop Bluffs Introduction

The majority of the potential bluffs end up being post-flop bluff scenarios. This is simply because there are more streets and hence more chances to bluff post-flop. bluffing post-flop can also be much more difficult than bluffing pre-flop because people actually have a good idea of where their hand is headed. If they think they are headed towards a good hand then they probably won’t be folding to your bluff unless you make it extremely convincing that you have the better hand.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.01: Small to Medium-sized bets

Make small to medium bets on the Flop and Turn then on the River make a large bet if there are no scare cards. What you’re trying to do is make it look like you had a decent hand on the flop, but was worried something else was going to come. Then when it didn’t come, you bet your solid hand.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.02: Repeat Betting Size

One bluff method that can work even though it goes against standard betting practices is to bet 1 amount on each street, provided no one else is raising. First, it’s a betting anti-pattern, so it makes people think something is up with your bets. Second, people think you’re betting for value from the beginning, so if they don’t catch something then they assume you had something from the beginning.
If you do this and someone min-raises you on the river, you have two equally viable choices. One, you fold and aren’t out the ton of chips you would be had you been raising the pot every street. Two, you can try a large 3-betting bluff to push them off the hand. It can work if they only did a min-raise and you bet large enough.
If they re-raise large at any point I would abandon the bluffing and just let the hand go.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.03: The slow-growing bluff

Consider starting with a small pre-flop raise, say 1 or 2 BBs. This does not work if you do not raise pre-flop and it does not work if you bet large pre-flop. On the flop make a small-ish sized bet that is larger than the pre-flop bet. Maybe 3 BBs. On the turn, increase it again by 1-2 BBs, say 4-5BBs. On the river, you can either bet another small re-raise (compared to the size of the pot), say 6 BBs to tell the story that you started out with a good hand, caught something OK on the flop and then weren’t scared by any of the other cards. Or, you can bluff large on the river which says the same thing, except it sends the message that you started with a monster and were trying to milk people for chips.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.04: Bluffing a trap

You can bluff that you are trying to trap someone. Bet a decent amount of chips on the flop, check or just call the turn, then bet big on the river. However, this does take some finesse and can only be learned well by practicing it, because the exact same betting could be viewed as an attempt to steal the pot, which would get called.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.05: The cheapest bluff

There is actually a bluff that surprisingly works well and is very cheap to pull off. Basically, pre-flop you raise 1BB. If no one re-raises, then you bet 1BB on every street, no more, no less. A lot of times people will fold to this betting line, probably thinking you’re just trying to leach chips off them with a decent hand. And if someone catches on and raises, you have the choice of making an overbet re-raise to scare them away, or you can just fold and be out the few chips it cost to make the cheap bluff.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.06: A trap / Value Bet combo bluff

You start by checking on the flop. The first key is them betting 1-3 BBs. If it’s a check, or if it’s a bet greater than that then you can bluff, just not this way. If they bet 1-3 BBs, you just call. Check the turn and if they also check then you can pull this off. When the river comes bet 5 BBs, instead of betting the pot. This bet makes it look like you were not only trying to trap, but that you are now trying to value bet your hand. Both of which are a reason for them to fold.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.07: Bluffing a mid-range hand

Let's face it, you can't bluff like you hit a monster on every hand. Most of the time you bluff to represent you had a great hand, but there are times you can win a hand by bluffing that you had mid-pair or a weak flush, or something similar. This one I can’t tell you what to bluff because it is based on how you would normally act toward the hand, but imagine you hit mid-pair on the flop. How would you bet mid-pair? Bet the hand like you have mid-pair and if no one has anything you can get them to fold relatively cheaply (unless you’re someone who bets huge with mid-pair, then don’t do this at all).

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS POST.07: Bluffing a flush or straight

Do you have problems getting people to fold to your Flush or Straight bluffs even when they don’t have the flush or straight themselves? I think everyone has this problem because if you only bet the made hand then people aren’t going to believe you were chasing it to begin with. In order to bluff that you made a drawing hand, you must first bluff that you are chasing the drawing hand. This means making mid to low bets before the draw is made. So, if 3 to a flush flops, you cannot check it, you must bet something to make it look like it didn’t scare you and that you actually wanted that flop. Then when the 4th comes you’ve set the table up for a bluff by making it look like you wanted it all along. And if it never comes then you can bluff by making it look like you were trying to push everyone off the draw and then when the draw didn’t come you are now betting for value without the fear of someone having made their hand.

 

[BigRivers]

So, you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. How do you restore your image so that you can get back to bluffing? Well, it’s going to take a few orbits. Don’t bluff again for at least 2-3 orbits. In addition to not bluffing, turn off auto muck and show your big hands. Most people don’t want to show big hands, but you need to tell the table, “when I bet, I’ve got it so back off”. Then, when the table respects you again, you can go back to bluffing. Just try to avoid bluffing the person who the bluff was against. People tend to hold grudges.

In live play you should never show cards for free. The only reason someone will only show you strong cards is for the exact reason you described. So when someone shows me their cards it just verifies that I read them correctly. My experience is mostly live though.

 

[vinnie]

I would avoid changing my bluffing frequency based on factors that can develop into a pattern. Avoiding bluffing, after you have been caught or when you just sit down, is not a pattern that I would like associated with me. I am just as likely to bluff with my first hand as with any other. I am just as likely to bluff the very next hand, even if I got caught. I don't let those sort of things determine my bluffing frequency or patterns.

I use the cards themselves, combined with my position and the action at the table. I try to have ranges where each street will develop with a variety of value hands and bluffs. When I raise AQs UTG, it becomes a bluffing hand when I miss the flop and there is a single card of that suit (I give up when there's no backdoor flush possibility and I consider it more of a bet for value when there is a one-card flush draw with my overs). Generally, I look for hands that could develop some equity.

I also bluff some of my very worst hands on the end. And, my bet-sizing is in line with any other bet that I might make. This includes going all-in. If I don't punt off a stack on the river every so often, and get called down, I am not bluffing enough. I don't mind getting called. It's expected that I will be called a certain amount of the time. If your bluffs are never called, you aren't bluffing nearly enough. Depending on pot and bet sizes, you will show a profit even getting called some of the time. Plus, getting called means you will be getting called with your value bets as well. They can't be calling only your bluffs and folding to your value bets.

The only other thing that I think really matters is a good idea of the range an opponent has. I play a game where I try and think of the range of hands they might have, and what they call with. Then, if I get called, I can compare that to my prediction. Did they just have a hand near the top that was always calling? Did they call with a hand that I thought they could have but would fold? Did they call with a hand that I didn't even think they could have? The better you get at this game, the better you become at finding spots to bluff.

Edit: The idea of not being caught bluffing as a problem comes from the same concept as the idea that "If you never miss your flight, you are spending too much time at airports." [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/case-missing-your-next-airline-flight-180951650/]

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.00: Situational Bluffing

When considering a bluff, I’ve written down some tips related to certain special situations for myself. I’m calling these situational bluffing ideas. Situational bluffing can either enhance previous bluffing tips, or could override those tips. Every situation is different and if you can take advantage of them you can find your bluffs being more successful.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.01: Bluffing by acting first vs. raising

When acting first in a hand or on a street, you can get away with relatively low bets to pull off a bluff. However, if you are going to raise a bluff you need to be willing to go in big. You cannot get someone to fold by min-raising them. They’re already in for more than half the raise so why would they fold? When bluffing a better, you need to raise 2-3 times their raise to have any chance of getting them to fold. For instance:
Blinds are 100/200
They bet 1,000 (a raise of 800)
You need to re-raise 1600-2400 more to have a chance at getting them to fold. So a total bet of 2600-3400.
Think of it this way, if you’ve bet 1000 into a 300 pot (so the pot is now 1300) are you really going to fold to 800 more? Well, neither will they.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.02: Building and taking down side-pots.

In tournament poker there is a generally understood rule that if someone is all-in, other players don’t bet on the pot in the hopes of taking out the all-in player. This unwritten rule is generally only broken by good tourney players when they have a monster hand. You can take advantage of this and salvage a called pre-flop bluff hand.
Let’s say you are going to bluff pre-flop and bet 10,000. You get a few callers and someone else shoves for 12,000. There’s no way you should fold to a 2,000 chip raise so you call and so does everyone else in the hand (say 2 others). The first thing to do is to build the side-pot “slowly” on the flop and turn. In the example above, try betting 1000-2500 on the flop and 2500-5000 on the turn. If you get 1 caller at 2000 on the flop and then again at 5000 on the turn, this would make for a 14000 chip side-pot. On the river you would then need to employ a rather large “I made my monster hand” bluff, but if you can take it down, even if you lose the original pot that you put 12000 into you can still salvage most of the hand by taking down the 14000 pot with a 7000 net gain. It’s risky, but instead of losing 10,000 in the hand you can walk away losing much less. A lot of times you can even walk away making a small profit (without winning the main pot).

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.03: Bluffing a hand of limpers

When bluffing a hand of limpers (say 3 players plus the blinds) you need to remember the size of the pot comes into play. You can’t just bet 3 BBs and expect everyone to fold. There’s already 4.5 BBs in the pot. You need to bet 2-3 times the pot itself to pull down a bluff when there are numerous limpers in the hand. Otherwise the pot odds just makes calling the raise worth it. And, yes, this does make the bluff much more dangerous, which is why you probably shouldn’t be bluffing a table with multiple callers. But it can be done.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.04: Bluffing when someone is left to act.

One of the most dangerous times to bluff is when there are people left to act and you have no clue what they are going to do. In these cases, if you must bluff, I would recommend either going big or going home. Either increase your bluff by 25% or more or just let the bluff go and move on to a better spot.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.05: Bluffing near a bubble

Everyone wants to take advantage of the by pushing smaller stacks around. The problem is everyone knows everyone wants to take advantage of smaller stacks. If you want to bluff well near the bubble you have to play as though you have good bubble hands, which are played different. When on the bubble a good hand is usually bet or raised much lower than at other times because even the good hands don’t want to risk losing a lot of chips getting drawn out. So, when you bluff on the bubble, bluff smaller then you normally would. Try to blend your bluffing into the betting of other players to mask that you’re bluffing and thus increase the chances of picking up a pot.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.06: Avoid Bluffing at the start of the tournament

At the start of a tournament people play a lot looser because they want to chip up quickly to gain that larger stack advantage. This doesn’t necessarily mean they will go all in, but you can expect people to call a wider range of bets at the start of the tournament. Because of this it may be best to avoid bluffing in the very early stages of the tournament. It seems like it becomes easier to bluff once you are 3-5 rounds into the tournament.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.07: Bluffing after a strong hand.

Although it defies mathematics, people instinctively feel that once you have a good hand you probably have good luck and will hit another good hand. Maybe it’s an evolutionary thing. Whatever it is, I find that after I have a big hand, the chances of my bluff being successful in the next 1-3 hands goes up.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.08: Anti-bluffing

If you have a monster hand on the flop you can actually do what I call an anti-bluff. Anti-bluffing is when you make people think you're bluffing, and doing a poor job at it, when you actually have a great hand. Here’s how it works, on the flop bet a medium size bluff amount. On the turn, cut that amount in half, whatever it was. Then on the river go in big, real big. The betting you’re doing won’t make sense to the opponent and can cause them to call your really big bet and pay you off.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS SIT.09: Bluffing a dry board

A dry board is when there aren’t high cards, there aren’t flush or straight possibilities, there just isn’t much of anything for anyone to have hit. A lot of times no one did hit a hand in these cases. In those cases bluff as though you have an over-pair or a set. Generally no one thinks about you having an over-pair or a set, but on a dry board you can get people to fold just because they are confused about what you’re doing and have nothing themselves.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS OG.00: Bluffing in Other Games Introduction

This section is real short. I really only have two bluff ideas for bluffing games other than No Limit Hold’em.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS OG.01: Bluffing in Pot Limit Games

Pot Limit bluffing is tricky. If you don’t have a decent pot, then you can’t make a decent bluff. So I recommend building pots slowly early on with small bets and then betting big on the river to pull off a bluff in pot Limit games.

 

[This Fish Chums]

BLUFFS OG.02: Bluffing in Limit Games

The only bluff I know in Limit Games relies on small pots. Don’t bet pre-flop or on the flop to keep the pot small, wait till the turn when the bet value is doubled and then bluff. This makes the pot odds a lot less favorable for a caller and if they did not initiate bluffing on the first two streets then odds are good they don’t have anything on the turn and will fold to the bluff. Remember, in Limit games, small pots are just as valuable as medium pots are in no limit games because in limit games your top end for pots is a lot less, usually.

 

[This Fish Chums]

Bluffing 101: Conclusion

So, I’ve finally come to the end of my decades of notes on bluffing. Please, please, please tell me what I got wrong. If there are things that don’t work in places other than freerolls, if there are tips that could be better handled a different way, or if there are tips that are just flat out wrong, I want to hear about it. Please remember that I did not write these as a master bluffer, I wrote these as a person trying to learn how to bluff and taking notes on every little thing he discovered. A lot of which may have been false positives. So if there is anything wrong with my tips, please tell me and the rest of the community know. Thanks for reading and hopefully you learned a thing or two.