0546474
Legend
Loyaler
For a bluff to be successful, you need to understand who you are bluffing against!!! Bluffing against an unknown opponent is very risky!!! It is also not recommended to bluff against very aggressive players!!! I prefer to bluff against passive mid-stack players who have a lot to lose and will bide their time in hopes of increasing their chip count. If a player has a lot of chips, then he can check your bluff without the risk of being thrown out of the game, at the same time, players have few chips, then he has nothing to lose and will take risks in the hope of doubling!!!
yogo9
Visionary
Bronze Level
certainly there are types of bad bluffs in the wrong time. Not accounting for range advantage, good or bad cards to be holding while bluffing.
there are some tips on how to bluff in the right moment;
-Don't bluff multiway
-Make sure your story makes sense
-Bluff when your hand blocks villains calling range and unblocks his draws. Very simple in theory. Tricky in practice. Takes experience to see and sense the hand probabilities.
-Semi bluff when you have a strong draw.
there are some tips on how to bluff in the right moment;
-Don't bluff multiway
-Make sure your story makes sense
-Bluff when your hand blocks villains calling range and unblocks his draws. Very simple in theory. Tricky in practice. Takes experience to see and sense the hand probabilities.
-Semi bluff when you have a strong draw.
jproy444
Rock Star
Bronze Level
Bluffing in micro cash game doesn't really make sense. Many times, you'll get someone going for it even with a low pair. You can start to bluff going on higher stakes table. Also, bluffing in tournament is easier. Specially when you're around the bubble.
Funtast
Rock Star
Bronze Level
I think bluffing is easily applicable to microstakes.
That because next to the unbalanced callingstation there is the unbalanced nitfish overfolding like crazy. On the low limits there are both extremes, you just have to find out who you are up against.
dreamer13
Legend
Platinum Level
You don't want to bluff on a board that is completely out of your range in the eyes of your opponents.For some players, controlling their emotions during a hand (and especially during a bluff) is too difficult. Adrenaline rushes into the bloodstream due to an attempt to bluff, and this can cause nervous trembling, excessively sudden movements, and stuttering. Other players, on the contrary, during a bluff, begin to behave very calmly, their movements are slow, their speech is leisurely.There's an old poker saying that if every bluff you make wins, then you bluff too rarely. Yes, some players can win a lot without bluffing at all. But still, the game is evolving, and today you need to be able to use bluff on a regular basis.
Gallarado777
Legend
Loyaler
You must learn this talent so that you can be good at it because of this you can lose a lot of chips or win a lot of chips. To do this, you need to do it against weak players who are afraid of strong players, you should not do it because they play with a range and will test you a lot
jproy444
Rock Star
Bronze Level
It's true for the nitfish. You can bluff them. For the calling stations, they seems wayyy more incline to follow you with anything in microstakes. Sometimes you raise 12-15 BB and you see someone with 4-9 offsuit following you just because they are the BB. It's tough to put them on a range and bluff them. You don't see this kind of non-sense in higher stake.
Igor Popadyk
Legend
Platinum Level
this will go away with experience, different situations, your position at the table and most importantly your opponent - after all, not every player will understand how much your bet and range includes bluffs, because some players may not think about it
NootNoot
Rock Star
Silver Level
Does the story you're telling make sense? Do your actions from pre-flop to the point of the bluff coincide with what you would do if you had a strong hand? Board texture and perceived range from your position come into play (nut advantage etc.) as well as your bets, calls, raises. Same for your opponent when it comes to deciding if you actually can bluff them.
Sometimes attempted bluffs don't seem to make sense bearing in mind the previous actions and they are more likely to be called, or even re-raised. Try to avoid these.
It's usually recommended that we bet big in spots where we are either bluffing with very little or actually have close to the nuts based off the way the hand played out. Got to try and stay stay consistent with that to be able to sell it. Polarized betting and all that.
Of course, there are some people who won't consider your range, or what you may have, just purely focused on what 2 cards they have, especially at microstakes or lower stakes. No consideration of you at all, or even their own range (if they have one). That can often play out in 2 ways - easy to bluff if they have hands like top pair weak kicker, or 2nd pair if they're overly tight, especially if draws might have got there too. Or they can be difficult to bluff when they have even 4th or 5th pair if they're a calling station.
Agree with what others said about those types, got to tailor your approach specifically depending on who you are up against rather than having a general strategy vs. everyone. A hub can help with this online. If you don't have one, or for live play be extra observant of who you are trying to bluff.
Sometimes attempted bluffs don't seem to make sense bearing in mind the previous actions and they are more likely to be called, or even re-raised. Try to avoid these.
It's usually recommended that we bet big in spots where we are either bluffing with very little or actually have close to the nuts based off the way the hand played out. Got to try and stay stay consistent with that to be able to sell it. Polarized betting and all that.
Of course, there are some people who won't consider your range, or what you may have, just purely focused on what 2 cards they have, especially at microstakes or lower stakes. No consideration of you at all, or even their own range (if they have one). That can often play out in 2 ways - easy to bluff if they have hands like top pair weak kicker, or 2nd pair if they're overly tight, especially if draws might have got there too. Or they can be difficult to bluff when they have even 4th or 5th pair if they're a calling station.
Agree with what others said about those types, got to tailor your approach specifically depending on who you are up against rather than having a general strategy vs. everyone. A hub can help with this online. If you don't have one, or for live play be extra observant of who you are trying to bluff.
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dimon4ik89
Visionary
Platinum Level
In order to bluff at the right moment, you need to be able to assess the situation well at the poker table. One of the very important factors is the position you are in. It is best, of course, to bluff from late position. You need to know how your opponents play: aggressively or passively, tight or loose. The size of your stack also plays a role; the larger the stack, the easier it is to bluff. You need to very carefully monitor everything that is happening, on each street, what actions your opponents took, and what range of starting hands they usually enter the game at. In general, there are a lot of points that need to be paid attention to. Play more and everything will come with experience. Good luck in your games.
M
mclay
Visionary
Platinum Level
People take years to learn this, and you just ask how. Everything they write to you here, you will forget tomorrow.
Aballinamion
Sleeping with the Dark Lady of the Sith
Loyaler
Know you opponent. Bluffing has to do with the ability to one to fold better hands because it will believe you have it. On the flip side, there are tons of weak players that cannot be easily convinced, and they will call light just "to see", over and over and that will cause you frustration. You gotta try to bluff decent players, but those aren't easy to bluff either because they know you will try to do it from time to time.
The key to sucess (at micro-limits) is not to bluff very often. Play a straightforward game, go with your better hands and bluff only when you have a decent piece of equity for turn and river, for example, when you have open ended straight and flush draw, that would be almost a mandatory spot to try to bluff any player, because we have equity.
Other possibility is to try to make cheap bluffs more often against ABC players such as average regulars and NITS. Identify those profiles at the table, mark them on notes with their tight tendencies postflop and which hands they appear on possible outcomes and showdowns. Once you have these informations you can try to exploit cheap bluffs preflop, by 3-betting light (wouldn't recommend 4-bet light at the micros), on the flop making c-bets of 1/4 pot, 1/2 pot max, and on the turn 1/2 pot if it is a single raised pot and you believe villain could fold.
But most of times they will fold when they have absolutely nothing to improve on later streets so be attentive to board texture and player profile.
blueskies
Legend
Loyaler
Yep today I raised a limper with KQos. Flopped an open ended straight draw but whiffed on the turn and river. Fired three barrels but got called down anyway with 77. Marked him and not gonna bluff him again.
My own mistake. Some dudes are allergic to the fold button.
Need to identify the regs you can float and/or bluff. This works best if you have a tight image and/or you have shown down hands where you had the goods.
Don't overdo it cuz they will wise up sooner or later.
Gavincwb
Rock Star
Platinum Level
Always bluff against good players who understand the game and know how to fold hands. Never bluff a recreational player who doesn't know how to fold hands, against these players it's best to just play with value hands that you think you're winning.
F
fundiver199
Legend
Loyaler
First off all the goal when bluffing is not to always win the hand. The goal is to win it often enough to make a profit. Like if we bet 20$ on the river into a 30$, we need to win more than 40% of the time. So if we run into a royal flush or some other hand, the opponent would never fold, this does not mean, we did anything wrong. Times to avoid bluffing is:
When the opponent has shown a lot of strength
The opponent is a tight player, who raised preflop, bet large on the flop, bet large on the turn and bet large on the river. We have a busted draw, so we cant win at showdown, if we call. But even so this is not the time to find some fancy check-raise bluff, because chances are, the opponent actually has, what he is representing. And since we are playing a 5$ game, he is not going to make some amazing fold with an overpair or a set, just because there are now 3 cards to a straight.
If we cant tell a convincing story
If we took a passive or neutral action on the flop and turn, we really need to think about, which hands, we would do that with, that want to bet the river for value. And if the answer is "none", then we should probably not bluff. Could be a board runout like Jh9c2h-5s-Jd, where flop and turn got checked through. If we bet here, we are saying, we have a J or maybe a 9. But would those hands not have bet already? A good opponent will sniff this out and call us with any bluff catcher including decent A high hands.
If we have showdown value
We have AJ, missed the board completely, and flop and turn got checked. This is not a good time to bluff, because there is a decent chance, AJ high is the best hand and can win at showdown. But at the same time, if we bet, its unlikely, that many worse hands would call.
When the opponent has shown a lot of strength
The opponent is a tight player, who raised preflop, bet large on the flop, bet large on the turn and bet large on the river. We have a busted draw, so we cant win at showdown, if we call. But even so this is not the time to find some fancy check-raise bluff, because chances are, the opponent actually has, what he is representing. And since we are playing a 5$ game, he is not going to make some amazing fold with an overpair or a set, just because there are now 3 cards to a straight.
If we cant tell a convincing story
If we took a passive or neutral action on the flop and turn, we really need to think about, which hands, we would do that with, that want to bet the river for value. And if the answer is "none", then we should probably not bluff. Could be a board runout like Jh9c2h-5s-Jd, where flop and turn got checked through. If we bet here, we are saying, we have a J or maybe a 9. But would those hands not have bet already? A good opponent will sniff this out and call us with any bluff catcher including decent A high hands.
If we have showdown value
We have AJ, missed the board completely, and flop and turn got checked. This is not a good time to bluff, because there is a decent chance, AJ high is the best hand and can win at showdown. But at the same time, if we bet, its unlikely, that many worse hands would call.
christovam
Visionary
Platinum Level
Good times to bluff are in the early stages of the tournament and near the prize pool. In these cases, the villains tend to have more to lose and wait for strong hands to pay tribets. And when you're a BB, it's even better to tribet with bluffs.
