What do you know about poker bluffing ?It is said that great players do not rely on luck, rather they make their own luck. They do that through solid play and the careful use of bluffing. Without the ability to bluff in the right spots, you will miss out on many opportunities to win money. As Amarillo Slim Preston once said, "Delete the element of bluff and there's nothing to poker." If your good hands don't hold up often enough, you simply can't win, and that is largely a factor of luck. But when you bluff, you are not relying on luck. Instead you are using your skills to read your opponent, and being aggressive when you sense his hand is weak. Your bluffs don't even have to work every time in order for them to be profitable, because your potential gain usually exceeds your risk.
In Texas Hold'em, even when you start with good hands, you will miss the flop most of the time. But the important thing to remember is that your opponents will miss the flop just as frequently, and often just one bet on the flop can take all the preflop money. This is what makes Hold'em, particularly no limit or pot limit hold'em, the greatest of all bluffing games, because you can bet enough to make it hard for your opponents to call. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating raising big before the flop with 6-2 off-suit. Very rarely would I try such a raw bluff. Rather I'm talking about seeing the flop with good cards, usually raising coming in, and if you miss, then determining if a bluff is appropriate. Ideally, when you bluff you want to have a hand with some possibilities, like overcards or a straight draw or flush draw, so that if you get called, you can still improve and win the hand. This is called a "semi-bluff", and it's one of the most powerful plays in all of poker.
The majority of bluffing in hold'em occurs on the flop, because the flop so often makes or breaks your hand. If no one catches a pair or a good draw on the flop, then whoever bets usually takes the pot, and it might as well be you. But you have to know when to try it and when to check or fold.
There are three very important factors to consider before you decide to bluff on the flop: position, number of opponents, and the nature of the flop. Hold'em is the most positional of games, and your position should affect nearly every decision you make, especially bluffs. Last position is the best place to bluff, because being last to act will give you information about your opponents. When you act first, you will have no idea what your opponents are going to do. Although bluffing from first position can work, because your opponents may put you on a very strong hand, it is far riskier, particularly with multiple opponents.
Which brings us to our next factor, the number of opponents in the hand. Bluffing one player is easy, bluffing two is difficult, and bluffing three or more is nearly impossible. With many players in, somebody probably caught something, and will likely call you just to "keep you honest". However, sometimes you can bluff some of them out on the flop, and the rest out on the turn or river, so getting called on the flop doesn't necessarily mean you have to give up your bluff. This is a good argument for raising before the flop with good hands, because you will narrow the field and give yourself more bluffing opportunities when you miss. If you limp in and let nine players see the flop cheaply, forget about bluffing, you've got to hit your hand to win.
The nature of the flop is the third factor to consider. Some types of flops lend themselves better to bluffing than others. My favorite bluffing flop is "Big-Little-Little". For example, you raised with AJ and got two callers. The flop is Q74 off-suit. When I see a flop like this, I think to myself: "No queen, no call". In no limit, if it's checked to me I would make a pot-sized bet on this flop. If your opponents didn't hit exactly a queen, it will be very hard for them to call, unless they flopped a set, which is unlikely. By betting, you are "representing" a queen, which is important. When you bluff the flop, you have to be representing something. You must get your opponents to believe that the flop helped you more than them. That's why the "Big-Little-Little" flop is a better bluffing flop than a "Rag" flop like 752. Your opponents won't believe you raised and then hit this flop. The only hand you can represent now is an overpair. You might argue that they may not have hit anything that they could call with, but they might just call you with two overcards, hoping to hit top pair on the turn. A bluff on this flop may be too obvious.
Also contrast the Q74 flop to a flop of QJ9 two-suited. Now your opponents are more likely to have a pair, two pair, or a good draw, since there are 3 cards in the "playing zone" instead of one. Another good bluffing flop is a paired flop, like TT5. A bet here will represent trips, and there is nothing your opponents can have that they can call with if they didn't hit the ten. Of course, most players who do hit this flop will check-raise, so you want to use good reading skills before falling into that trap. Still, you can make a small bet, and if you get raised, you can get away from the hand easily. If no one hit trips, a small bet is all it takes to steal this one. Suited flops are good bluffing flops also, but only with one or two opponents. The more people in the hand, the more likely someone has a flush, or a big card in suit with the board, which will usually keep them in. By representing the flush, you can often get even a player with top pair to fold, because he wants to avoid the possibility of calling all the way to the river drawing dead against a made hand.
"Delete the element of bluff and there's nothing to poker."
- Amarillo Slim Preston
The flop of course is not the only time you can bluff. Lots of bluffing occurs before the flop, in an attempt to "steal" the blinds. Think about this: If you could successfully steal the blinds just once per round and play no other hands, you would win the tournament. Of course, you're not likely to get away with that, but it illustrates that all those little blinds do add up, and it is profitable to steal some of them now and then. The best place to steal the blinds is on the button or from the little blind, when everyone has passed to you. That minimizes the chances of someone behind you having a good hand. Of course, if you do it too often, it will be too obvious and your opponents will start to defend their blinds with marginal hands. But even if they suspect you are stealing, they still can't call if they have a 7-2. One thing you can try as a variation is the "delayed blind steal". Just limp in from a late position instead of raising, and let the big blind see the flop for free. Then if he checks to you, bet with anything. Habitual "blind defenders" are less likely to call after the flop if they missed it completely. With just a random blind hand, they are likely to miss.
Bluffing on the turn card can be a successful play in some situations. In limit hold'em, the bet doubles on the turn. Weak players will sometimes call a small bet on the flop with a marginal hand to see if they improve on the next card. If they don't improve, it then costs double on the turn, with only one more card to come. If their hand doesn't shape up by then, they won't call, even if they don't think you have anything huge. This bluff requires that you know your opponents well, and have a good read on their hand. Many players will check and call on the flop and check-raise the turn, to get extra money when they have a big hand, so try not to fall into that trap. Sometimes a scary card on the turn creates a good bluffing opportunity. Let's say you suspect your opponent has a pocket pair, and an Ace comes on the turn. Even if you don't have an Ace, that's the last card your opponent wants to see, so you can represent it and get him to fold his pair. Again, reading your opponent well is key. He may have been bluffing with an Ace-high hand and just hit his hand, or worse, he may have had top pair with an Ace kicker.
Bluffing on the river card is a little more straight-forward than bluffing on the turn. Sometimes, you can tell if your opponent was on a draw, and if no card that would make his hand hits the river, you can steal the pot. If your opponent has checked and called all the way, it's pretty likely he was trying to get free cards for a draw, and it's usually obvious which draw he was going for, when you consider the nature of the board. As always, though, you need to consider the size of the pot. A single bet on the river may not be enough for your opponent to fold a marginal hand if the pot is big. There is always the chance he will think, "Well, I've come this far, what's one more bet?"
Picking the right spots and the right opponents to bluff is the most important skill to learn. Tricky players who check-raise frequently should be avoided, as well as "calling stations" who refuse to lay down any sort of hand. You want to bluff only straightforward, tight players. Also, look for tells of weakness, and take advantage of them. For example, if your opponent checks almost immediately after the flop, there's a good chance it missed him. Many players who otherwise have fairly good poker faces, are very easy to read when the board didn't help them. They suddenly have lost all interest in winning the pot and don't really care if you can tell by their expressions, since they won't call any bet anyway. They just care about getting to the next hand. Bluffing in poker for win!
