 Without the bluff, poker
would not be poker; it is
the ultimate deception.
One of the greatest
feelings you can get from
poker derives from taking
down a huge pot that your
opponent should have won.
Bluffing has been greatly
glamorized by the media,
televising huge bluffs being
put on other players and
taking down huge pots in
the WSOP and in movies.
If you ask an amateur
player or any person new to poker what the
fundamental aspects of
the game are, you can be
very sure that they will
describe how bluffing
your opponents is
key to beating
the game. However, this
is actually far from the
truth. It is possible
to beat poker games
without ever needing to
bluff. The over
estimation of the
importance of bluffing by
amateur players is what
helps them lose money to
the more experienced.
The aim of poker is to
win money, simple as
that. So if you were to
never bluff, you can
still make money. Think
of it this way; If you
are sitting at a 6 seater
table, each player has an
equal chance on getting
good or bad cards. Each
player according to
simple math should have
the best hand 1 in every
6 hands, therefore if all
the players were of the
exact same standard, in
the long run nobody would
lose, and nobody would
win. But if one player
was able to win more
money from their opponents
when they had the best hand
than their opponents won
from them when they had
the best hand, that
player would be making
more money than their opponents in the long run. It stands to
reason that if you play
your cards better than
the other players play
their cards, you will end
up a winner.
So does this mean that
players lose more money
trying to run bluffs on
one another? Not
necessarily. An
experienced player can
pick their spots and take
down a few pots that
should have been taken
down by someone else,
adding a little more to
their stack. But it is not
easy for a beginner or
even intermediate players
to pick the right spots,
it takes a lot of
experience of situations
and knowledge of your
opponent to know when a
bluff will be successful.
Therefore if you are
unsure of whether you can
take down a pot, then you
shouldn’t try, as you
are unnecessarily risking
chips by trying to take
down a pot that is not
essential anyway.
As you play more
poker, you will have a
greater understanding of
when you can bluff.
However there are more
advantages to bluffing
than simply winning one
pot.
Giving Yourself a
Loose Image. If
you continually try to
run bluffs against your
opponents, they will try and
catch you out when you
bet into them. They will
start to overplay their
mediocre hands when you
bet and pay you off when
you do have a good hand.
Put Your Opponents
on Tilt. People
do not like to be
deceived out of their
money. If you make a
successful bluff against
a player and show them,
they may become
frustrated and play worse
in an attempt to get
their money back. This is known as 'playing on tilt' However
it is not advised to do
this often as your
opponent and others at
the table may be out to
get you, which will make
the game trickier to
play.
As you can see,
bluffing has its extra
benefits. The most
important one mentioned
above is giving yourself
a loose table image, as you
potentially can take a
lot of money off your
opponents because they
will not believe you when
you do have a good hand.
When Should You
Bluff?
Now that you know the
theory of bluffing, when
you should you bluff? The
answer is simple; you
should bluff when you
think your opponent will
fold. Knowing when your
opponent will fold can
only come through
practice, and the more
you practice the better
you will become. Reading poker
books will also help you
to understand the game,
and where bluffs can be
employed successfully.
Here are a few situations
when it is more likely to
run a successful bluff:
- When in last
position. If
you are in last position,
you have the ability the
make more successful
bluffs than anywhere else
on the table. If you are
last to act, and your
opponents have checked to
you, it is a sign of
weakness. This is a
perfect opportunity to
bet and win the pot.
- If you raised
pre-flop. If
you raise pre-flop and
then missed on the flop,
you can still win the
pot. If you make a
continuation bet, your
opponent is unlikely to
call unless they have hit
top pair or middle pair
at least.
- Against small
stacks. If
your opponent has a small
stack, they are unlikely to
call a raise unless they
have hit the flop hard.
But you have to be
careful, as it will be rare
for a short stack to
simply call when bet
into, they will either
fold or push. Again this
is where practice makes
perfect, and you will
know when the short stack
is more likely to fold
than push.
- When on a draw. If
you do not have a made
hand, but are on a draw
such as a straight or a
flush, you can launch
what is called a
semi-bluff. You hope to
take the pot down right
there, but if you do get
called you still have a
chance to win the hand if
the next cards improve
your hand. But if you get
re-raised be prepared to
let the hand go, unless
you are receiving correct pot
odds to call.
|
Evaluation
It is important to
remember that you do not
need to bluff to win
money at poker,
especially if you are new
to the game. It is far
better to play your good
hands well rather than
try and make your
opponents fold when you
have no idea whether or
not they will call. As
you play more you can
expand your game and try
new things in different
situations and find out
times when it is best to
bluff. It could be said
that bluff are more
beneficial for what they
do for the future, rather
than what they do for the
present. In the present
you will be taking down a
small pot, but in the
future you could be
taking down a large pot
because your opponent did
not believe that you had
the best hand when you
bet.
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