How do you understand when your opponents are bluffing?

[aslanvanacha]

Accordingly it is difficult ☝️

 

[niphon56]

Most of players raise or call with big hands, A-K,A-Q,A-J, or packet pairs.
When there are nothing connection or only show small cards after flop, but your opponent urgent to all-in, my experience, 65%~75% is semi-bluff.

 

[akmost]

You have to be aware how they play pre flop and post flop all the way down to the river. For instance if he CBETS 100% of the flops you have to think that he CBETS with air some times. If he often steals in late position and continues with aggression post flop against you, you know that there is somethink wrong there.

Need to be obbservant if you don't use a HUD for those stats. If you have a HUD a WTSD[went to showdown] is a very convinient stat for me and also the WSD[how many time he got paid at showdown]. If the WTSD is pretty high you have to deal with a calling station!

Another thing you have to understand is what he is trying to represent with every bet he makes. If there is a board of 9 7 6 and you have A8 is more likely that he is not chasing for a straight draw because you have the 8 so is less likely for him to have an 8.So you have the 8 blocker card.

Hope not to get you confused here. I gave you just a peek how I face my post flop game!!Good luck sir!

 

[Amdrius]

What kind of poker discipline do you mean? Please specify for a more complete answer, as this is very important. The same player in different disciplines plays in different ways.

 

[akmost]

What kind of poker discipline do you mean? Please specify for a more complete answer, as this is very important. The same player in different disciplines plays in different ways.

I meant that if an opponent keeps using the same betting pattern[ex. open 2x , 50% cbet , 50% cbet turn] there is something suspicious there. If I faced a cbet from an opponent with middle pair-who isn't very active at the table- I would probably muck. If I aply against the overactive player in the same situation I would probably continue or even raise him. Everything is situational.

 

[diadiavalik]

In order to understand the bluff, I watch the game for a while and make notes, on the players who were caught on the bluff. Only then, I can catch a bluff!

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

A lot of players make mistakes in the size of the bet on the turn river. Be careful, watch this.

 

[alienat3d]

Well recognizing bluffs at poker is a fine arts at itself, you can't really explain this, you gotta learn to scent it by yourself, if you know what i mean. As diadiavalik right said: notes is the king, and of course the type of opponent too. Let's say loose-aggressive player tends to bluff like 3 times more than tight-aggressive and 10 times more than a nit. The other good skill is "reading the betting story" properly. If you facing a raise, don't be in haste to insta-call your top pair, cause you are thinking someone is bluffing. Better click on time bank and try to analyze how these hand been developed. Try to put your opponent from beginning on at some hands range and try to figure out how much percent of this range could really hit the flop, turn or river. If you can't figure out the hand which could fit that range and the bet doesn't seems to be logical, must be that he is bluffing you. "The story, that he tells you by betting sounds like bullsh1t". It also very differs from one limit to another. Let's say i saw much more bluffs on a river on 5$ or 10$ limits as at 40c, 1$ for example. Same with double or third barrel without hit.

 

[vic88888]

I believe as chip count decreases and they have about 5 times bb, they are more prone to play a hand, looser play. Not necessarily a bluff in their mind but trying to chip up.

 

[plyto777]

It depends on the texture of the board and the actions of the player pre-flop.

 

[Lerts]

depends on how you read your opponents, if you have a good read on them after seeing how they play at the table you would have an idea of when they are stabbing blinding(bluffing) and when they are playing for value so i would just say keep watching and making notes of how your opponents play at the table as it will give you info when it is crucial.

 

[ianleel]

if you know the players at the table and catch a bluff good for you.

 

[redmast]

You can catch on a bluff only if you know how the player plays. Still everything depends on how the rally of this hand was going. But still, the agent can easily deceive you and pick up your chips. A good hand is usually hidden under a bluff.

 

[PocketCards81]

The only way for me to catch a bluff is by observing the opponent during the bluff in question and then applying that to the future hands where he may try me.

There are just so many variables that go into this that I don't think anyone can give you a solid answer, but I do study certain "tells" that players give off when they're trying to bluff a hand. I've downloaded some really good kindle books off of amazon on ways of studying your opponents hands that can help you gauge whether your opponent is bluffing you and there's a really good article on pokerhack.com that goes more into depth on how to read your opponents hands that you should check out.

Good luck!

 

[CallmeFloppy]

Like others have said, paying attention to the action and how previous hands were played greatly help. once you know how a player generally plays, the bluffs may look odd compared to normal play alerting you something is up.

 

[Alexandr Svinarshyk]

I distinguish a bluff by how my opponents play, what tactics, what are the stakes.

 

[gardin555]

I think it is necessary to try to know the opponents' game, their movements, their type of game, whether it is passive or aggressive, contradictory rises, etc.
It is a set of topics to consider, to get a reading of a possible bluff.

 

[thetick33]

biggest mistake people make is auto betting rivers

no history so they make a stab that looks like a bluff sometimes you will get caught they caught so to speak but most of time is a bluff and is a dumb one

 

[FARMMARK]

Best way is to watch the player and look for tells. Online maybe they dont call as fast, or 3 bet to bluff. Look for any thing they do consistently.

Another thought or more of the same, unless you play with someone frequently, you will have to learn their style of play. Very hard to determine without watching someone play for a while.

 

[Bagdalac4ever]

It is very difficult to see that someone is bluffing. The most poker player use bluff like their strategy. He is bluffing the most of the time and then when he really has good cards, everyone will follow because everyone thinks that he is bluffing again. Trust noone

 

[Carlosypoker]

Depends of the actions of the player pre-flop, most of players raise or call with big hands.


A lot of players make mistakes in the size of the bet on the turn and river.

 

[antonis32123]

I think a lot of experience is needed for this , to be able to identify a lot of bluffs , and ofcourse a HUD and the ability to read well the stats of this programm . Watch the villain , how much loose he plays , how many hands , how many c bets/check raises , the way he plays in relation to the hand we have and the flop/turn/river .

I watch cards up videos to see how they bluff , to learn more

 

[Sergiy777]

Relax, You Never Know...

 

[John Bor]

I try to watch and play aggressively against those who bluffing
but you never know unless you try
but should be careful

 

[BlackJesus]

That depends on the player - how good a bluffer he is. If he is a bad bluffer, it could be told, first of all - from other instances where he bluffed previously, no matter if he won or lost in the showdown. If you see a bluffer, that increases the chances he is bluffing with you.

After that, you can attempt to analyse the board and try to tell if he is bluffing. SOmetimes it is possible to tell.