What do you know about bluffing?

[S1cK]

Imho its not really possible to bluff properly via online. Atleast it makes it much harder as you cannot read their gestures, etc.

 

[tihomir_kula]

bluffing is always ditticult for me. I never use it.

 

[milka1605]

It takes a good psychologist to know for sure that the opponent is bluffing or to know the opponent's playing methods in advance. Everything always happens purely on intuition. I personally only semi-bluff.

 

[jleon_zat]

that if you want to bluff well and without fear, if you are going to bluff with a few blinds, you better not do it, you have everything to lose

 

[KRANKES]

never try to bluff a fish, he will call just to see, if you're bluffing

 

[P86]

Good bluffs win MTTs in my opinion you have to win hands with bluffs or even semi bkuffs to be able to win long term. Waiting for made hands won't get u there.
But to have a read on an opponent who is trying to bluff you need to understand ranges and what the other player might have. Sometimes an opponent makes it too obvious that he has a strong hand depending on the level u put him on u act accordingly.

 

[ikescherer]

It is all about VPIP and the story of the hand.

 

[tomk7788]

If you don't ever get caught bluffing you aren't doing it enough.

 

[speper]

It is very difficult to cheat, especially in expensive courses, so know that your opponent has strong cards The most difficult thing is to convince your opponent that you have nothing to pay you

 

[BelFish]

There are even entire poker books dedicated to pure bluffing.

Janda also has in the book about the frequency of bluffing on every street.

Sklansky has a chapter in the book "Theory of Poker" on proper bluff frequency. Also in his book "No Limit Poker. Theory and Practice" he talks about the "hammer" tactics: you need to plan a bluff along the streets in advance, breaking the stack in the right proportions - the threat of even larger bets on next streets should be very scary for your opponent.

The book "Let There Be Range" says that our range should have at least 10 combinations that fit the board very well in order to be able to successfully bluff.

 

[zipocool]

bluffing is a standard element of the game, but the main thing is to use it correctly otherwise there will be problems with the bankroll), basically bluffing works best on the river since opponents can no longer improve and because of this we can often outplay them with a weaker hand, of course, if there are no nuts

 

[pocketace222]

In virtual poker, it is very difficult to feel the bluff of an opponent with a game mindset. I ask you to share what you know about bluff. It is very interesting to me as someone who has proven himself in poker for 7 years

It's actually not as difficult as it seems, there's patterns that you'll find go with the patterns. Sometimes it fails but I've also used patterns to make my moves.

 

[Gritz18]

In virtual poker, it is very difficult to feel the bluff of an opponent with a game mindset. I ask you to share what you know about bluff. It is very interesting to me as someone who has proven himself in poker for 7 years

Bluffing in poker is an art and few know how to do it perfectly.
I believe that when you're going to bluff, you have to tell a good story, from beginning to end, otherwise your bluff won't go through.
In freerolls I believe that the bluff doesn't work very well, because the tendency of players to call is much higher. Bluffing in freerolls starts to play better near the bubble, if you have a healthy stack.
But if you don't bluff in poker, start putting it in your game, because I think it's very difficult, but not impossible, for you to win a tournament without bluffing.
Just my opinion I don't own the truth and I'm not better than anyone.

 

[rachelle2291]

You have to tell a believable story. For example if it is an unraised pot and you are in the big blind and the cards are mostly big on flop and turn and river it would not make sense to make a big river bet because its not believable

 

[ikescherer]

You must have a plan since the first action you make.

If ur really tight and you know the table noticed u fold a lot, then u get 89 suited u might wanna raise pre-flop, ready to represent A K or Q if u miss the flop.

If u miss the flop, u must analyse the board to see if ur going to represent or not.

 

[Dobbler1]

Outright bluffs are one thing, semi-bluffs are another. I'll bet a strong draw.

 

[dallam]

Bluff is just an art. You do have to find perfect read on your opponent's calling range and the exact hand what villain is holding, and I would mention that you have to see yourself in their eyes, who they 're seeing you as a player. Mainly the streets will tell you that is it awardable to do it.
One additional info for MTTs is that if the tournament has a slower structure, active players are clearly doing some bluffs, and really passive players are probably calling you with really strong hands.

 

[Bnobob]

must be done a few times during the tournament

 

[angelluv725]

Bluffing has always been difficult for me. I am learning to fish more, so at times I will call just to see, if you're bluffing.. Maybe not a good thing!! I do take notes and label bluffers. Best wishes on and off the felts!🍀 Cheers!🍻

 

[TeUnit]

I like to look for players with wide gaps between their vpip and preflop raise and that fold to cbets frequently. You can also size down your bluff sizes on these types of players because they rarely can continue.

 

[korbal29]

To pick up a bluff ,you need to gain experience in observing players at the tables and cards at showdowns

 

[Dobbler1]

Here's my pithy theory: Bad players over-bluff and under-fold, decent players under-bluff and over-fold. Great players are like Goldilocks and fold or call "just right".

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

In virtual poker, it is very difficult to feel the bluff of an opponent with a game mindset. I ask you to share what you know about bluff. It is very interesting to me as someone who has proven himself in poker for 7 years

It depends on if you are talking about you as the bluffer or catching bluffs from others. So I will give you a few things I have observed and studied (especially now in the "GTO" era):

Bluffing:

Bluffing is part art part science. A lot of it is table image, range and timing. The table image part is both yours and the villain. If you have a TAG image then villain is more likely to respect any bluff you throw out there UNLESS they are Calling Stations (they think EVERYONE is bluffing every hand) so you have to account for both your table image and your opponent's.

Range is also very important -- did you raise preflop from early position or did you call a raise (or even worse -- limp) from the button. There are huge differences in the range for each. Imagine that you raise preflop from UTG+1 and the BB calls. Flop comes AK3 rainbow. Your range (and nut advantage is HUGE no matter what your actual hand is). In this spot you have all the aces, all the kings, AK, AQ, KQ, and maybe 33 and A3s. Your range is very condensed to having the nuts. The BB does not have AA, KK, AK and likely not AJ+ or they would have 3 bet. So, in this spot, even if you have something junky like 87s, you can easily make a 3 street bluff against all but the tightest or call-iest of players (yes, I said call-iest lol). Flip that however, you limp behind other limpers from the button and the same board texture comes. The original limper (esp if EP) is the only one who can have AA here (esp of they are a tricky limper) but in general, no one has hit this board strong, so bluffing here (esp multiway) would be lighting your money on fire. The BEST hand you can have is a set of three's that might have played it this way. The only other strong hands you may have are A3s and K3s and there are going to be some players that want to look you up (unless you have a super tight image...see how that plays in). Third situation: You can a UTG raise from the button and the flop comes J97 with 2 hearts. Here, the range and nut advantages are almost even. UTG can have all the sets and overpairs and AJ and suited boradways but you ALSO have all the sets (JJ would be discounted because most people raise JJ pre). You also have all the straights and straight draws where UTG's range is condensed.

Timing--The next part of this paying attention because this is a texture that UTG should be checking, but most people will make small (sometimes REALLY small) c-bets. No matter your hand, this is a terrific spot to bluff raise because you can continue to bluff on the turn if a good card comes. This is going to put UTG in a nasty spot and the best part is a pot sized bluff only has to work half the time to be profitable (and you still have another street to potentially bluff). Again, you have to pay attention to table images when doing this.

Bluff Catching;

When bluff catching I ask myself the following questions (quickly because it's online...LOL):
1. Am I beating any value hands?
2. Does villains range have enough obvious bluffs?
3. Is villain capable of bluffing (some people are not)
4. Does my hand unblock most obvious bluffs?

This is also part skill and part art. Being able to get reads on your opponents helps a lot here. I have played a lot of players who follow the GTO theory of shoving missed draws. I see this A LOT. If this is the type of player that you are against, then these are good spots to bluff catch. For instance: CO raises and you call from the BB with T9s (although I would 3 bet that hand...just saying). Flop comes Q93 with two spades. You check and villain bets. You call with middle pair and some backdoors. Turn is 5d. You check and CU bets and you call again. River comes 5h. You check and CU bets pot. You analyze this by going down the list:

1. Am I beating value hands? Villain could have 99+ although you are blocking nines and tens. So, really they could have JJ+ that you lose to. There are also a lot of value hands in their range with any queen. But, there are also a lot of missed draws. Spades missed, AK, AJ, KJ, JT, 87, T8 all missed. You are blocking tens so you can discount them a little, but besides the ones I mentioned, a lot of Ax and Kx hands could fine a bluff here.
2. Villains range has lots of bluffs as described above
3. This is essential! Is this villain capable of 3 barreling? Has villain been caught bluffing? Ect. You also have to look at your own image-- have you been folding a lot of rivers? Are you over-calling too many rivers?
4. Does my hand unblock most obvious bluffs? In this example, if you had spades, it is any easy fold because you are blocking the most obvious bluff --the missed flush. There are no straights on this board but you would also be blocking them with the T.

I will say that when I see a lot of missed draws and rival is shoving the river, I am very likely to call down (unless I have a read that tell me to fold). This is because of the GTO philosophy of shoving both made and missed draws on the river for "balance." HA! You miss more draws than you hit. So, calling a lot of shoves is actually an exploit that works against GTO players/ Yes, you do go broke more often, but when you do catch them, everyone who is at the table stops bluffing at you. This is a nice side benefit that GTO does not take into account.

I could actually spend hours talking about this (and really, all things poker, those who know me know this is true...lol) but I tried to keep it brief and I hold this helps you improve both aspects of your game (when NOT playing me...ha ha).

 

[Duxflux]

In virtual poker, it is very difficult to feel the bluff of an opponent with a game mindset. I ask you to share what you know about bluff. It is very interesting to me as someone who has proven himself in poker for 7 years

The more often you play against a certain type of player, the more likely you can estimate when he will bluff again. For example, maniacs. I mark my opponents and sometimes make notes and it happens more often that I call with such players when there is a tense situation.

 

[tomk7788]

I never ever bluff most of the time.