The Art of Bluffing
Many players will tell you bluffing is an art form. It takes heart to make a great bluff. It takes fearlessness to execute a huge bluff. More importantly, it takes impeccable timing to pull off the right bluff.
Most players will attempt to bluff a small pot. It doesn’t take much, most likely all it takes is a continuation bet to take down a small pot. The kind of bluffs I’m talking about is the big bluff. The bluff where you take down a huge pot. Bluffs like this can change the tone of the game, the course of a tournament and put other players on tilt that they might not be able to recover from. These are the bluffs that legends are made of. Whether it’s the WSOP, at a local casino or your local home game, a well timed, well executed bluff is a thing of beauty. It’s something that sticks in the mind of your opponent. Nobody likes to be bluffed out of a pot. It’s personal, it means that you’re the alpha male. The big dog at the table and the player who was bluffed is the weak one. They’re the one who runs and hide at the first sign of aggression.
There is nothing more satisfying than a well timed bluff. But the key question to ask is when is it a good time to bluff? Who should you bluff? Good players know a good well timed bluff is much more effective than a random bluff.
Over aggressive players will bluff at any pot if they smell weakness. Although this is a good strategy most of the time, it tends to negate the power of the bluff if you bluff too many times. Sooner or later a good player will see this and adjust his/her play accordingly. They’ll try and trap more. They’ll raise you more. A super aggressive player who bluffs at a lot of pots must be aware of this. Only a real skilled player can get away with this type of bluffing game. It’s the classic “the boy who cried wolf” syndrome. The more you attempt to bluff, the more the bluffs become less convincing.
Knowing other player is paramount to an effective bluff. You can’t bluff a calling station. Don’t even try it. You shouldn’t bluff a passive player also. Passive players and calling stations won’t bet their hands. They’ll just call you down. You’re better off bluffing a player who you know can lay down a hand. In a funny twist, the better the player the better the chance you can bluff him/her out of a pot. The flip side is that the better players will also know when you’re bluffing at times, so you must be aware of this.
The check raise bluff. This is a bluff I like to use on occasion. The situation has to be right though to pull this type of bluff off. If you’ve set an image where you’ll play any paired hole cards aggressively then you can use this move as a way to take down pots. This is effectively especially when the flop is uncoordinated.
The bare Ace bluff. I play with a player who uses this ploy often. He’s known to play any Ace suited and will bet accordingly when an Ace falls on the board. This is especially good when an Ace falls on the turn or river provided that the other players show weakness.
The flush bluff. Most players are scared of the flush. On the other hand most players also chase flushes way too many times than they’re supposed to. It is only natural that these players also fear the flush also. This is irrational but then most poker players are irrational when it comes to cards so you should take advantage of this. This type of bluff is tricky as most players may tend to slowplay their flush so if it’s checked to you it may mean that they’ve made their flush already, and if you’re going to take a shot at representing a flush then you have to know absolutely that the other player doesn’t have it. The good thing about this bluff s that if you do it enough times, there will be a time where you actually hit your flush and the other player will call you down with something weak.
The value bet bluff. This is a tricky type of bluff to pull off. I would only utilize this against players who I consider a decent player. Calling stations and passive players won’t recognize this type of bet so you shouldn’t execute this against them. A good player will understand and recognize a good value bet and act accordingly. Bet sizing becomes important because if you make the value bet too cheap, they’ll call you down with a decent hand just to look you up. The best time to execute a value bet bluff is on the turn (this is my opinion). Executing a value bet bluff on the river can be risky as the other player may call you down if they think you were chasing for example. So taking this in consideration, a value bet bluff is more effective on the turn than any other street.
Bet sizing is crucial in a well executed bluff. This an extension of the value bet bluff. Most players will protect their hands. You do this by betting and putting the bandit on a difficult decision. If he/she is on a draw and you’ve got top pair, top kicker for example or a set, you’re going to make the bandit pay for his/her draw. Usually this means a decent sized bet. On the flip side you can use to make a good bluff also. The key to this is bet sizing. For example you’re playing 1/2 NL and you’ve got A/K and the flop is A,x,x with two hearts. You’re going to put in a good sized bet to protect your money. If you’ve gotten a rep that you’re going to protect your hands, then you can use this to your advantage and bluff at pots more.
The all-in bluff. Going all-in is a very powerful move. This is feast or famine. I’ve seen many players use this move and get caught. Then on the other hand I’ve seen this bluff utilized brilliantly. Whether in a cash or tournament, nobody wants to risk their whole stack by calling. The only negative is that you can only use this move once in tournaments. In cash games, well that’s another story. I’ve seen guys build huge stacks by going all-in. Sometimes they have the goods other times they’re bluffing. The question is are you going to risk your stack just to be curious? That is why this move is a very powerful one but a move that only seasoned players can make.
Taking advantage of your image. If you’re known as a tight player who will only tangle in pots when you have a strong hand, you should take advantage of this and bluff more especially against the looser players who’s aware of your image. I was a victim of this recently when I hit top pair weak kicker against a very tight player. I bet out and he raised me. I folded and he showed me a pair of fives. He utilized his tight image to push me off a pot (next time I’ll keep my mouth shut as I told him he should take advantage of his image more…lol).
The story has to make sense. This is poker 101. If you’re going to attempt a bluff against good players, then you have to make sure the story makes sense. This of course takes everything that you know of the other player, and taking advantage of what he knows about you as a player. This is the famous meta-game that players talk about. You need to know the other player and he needs to know you, that way you can take advantage of this information to execute a good bluff. Good players will sniff out a bad bluff so take this in consideration when you’re going to bluff at a pot.
These are some of the bluffs that I’ve executed during my poker sessions. Sometimes they work, other times I’ve been caught but the moral of the story is that you can’t be scared of bluffing big. Even if you get caught you can use that to your advantage later on.
In essence, a well timed bluff is an exciting and bold play. Every poker player dreams of making that great bluff to take down a huge pot. Of course this is easier said than done. But if you can execute a few good timely bluffs, you’ll notice that your win rate will increase and the respect you command at the table will be evident. You can’t rely on good cards all the time to make money playing poker. Sometimes it takes a well timed bluff to make a profit. Good profitable players will always make money because they’re not relying on good cards alone. When they’re card dead they are able to make things happen for them by playing aggressive and bluffing at the right times regardless if they’re getting good cards or not.
Bluffing is fun and exciting but if it’s not executed correctly you’ll find that your once formidable chip stack is now going the way of the dinosaur.
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- Switching Gears
- Full Steam Ahead
- The Advantage of Position in Poker
- Controlling the Pot Size From Early Position
- Some Keys to Micro Stakes Online Play
Categories: Poker Strategy
