Joined: Jun '09
Location: Colombia
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 17
To bluff or not to bluff, that is the question. What is bluffing? When should I bluff? When should I not bluff? What are the different types of bluffs? When is bluffing most effective? These are all good questions pertaining to the art of bluffing. So go pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the lesson.
What Is Bluffing?
Bluffing is when you are making it seem like you have a big hand but, in reality, you don't. Also, you can bluff with a big hand and make it seem as though you have a weaker hand.
Different Types Of Bluffs
Semi-bluff � Which basically means that you are betting on a hand that still has a chance to win, such as a draw.
Stone cold bluff � Is when you are betting or raising when you have nothing.
Opposite SCB � I call this the opposite SCB bluff because it's the opposite of the stone cold bluff. You are bluffing and representing a weak hand when you actually have a big one.
Reasons To Bluff
1. Not a lot of people are in. 2. Missed on the flop. For instance you had an AKs and nothing came up for you on the flop. You may want to bluff. 3. When you are up against conservative players. 4. On the button. 5. You are sure everyone has junk. 6. If your a very conservative player and people know that you are. 7. It will help you gain more money.
Reasons not to bluff
1. Lose a lot of money. 2. Can get you in a bad habit of bluffing all the time. 3. Aggressive players may catch you in a bluff. 4. You may get too carried away with the bluff and put too many chips in the pot than you really should. 5. Against a lot of players. 6. If you just got caught bluffing. 7. If you don't like taking risks. *
*Note: If you don't like taking risks, than you shouldn't be playing poker in the first place.
Thoughts On Bluffing
First off, you CAN'T bluff by calling someone all the way. Obviously, if they are betting, they have something unless they are on a bluff themselves. By you calling all the way, you're not going to change my mind. I can't take the bet away from the middle of the pot that I just put in. Bluffing is suppose to be a trick. I made a bet, you called, you're not tricking me into folding.
Bluffing works best in high stakes NL (No-Limit) games. In limit games the bluff is not that effective. The reason for this is because it probably isn't that much more to call the bet. This is why people are able to bet more on draws in limit games than NL games.
Too much bluffing will make you go broke. Don't over use the fine technique. Bluffing is like gambling, it can be addicting. People use drugs and alcohol to get themselves out of reality, don't use bluffing as a way to get yourself out of folding all the time. Fold if you have to, bluff occasionally.
Getting caught bluffing once and a while is good. It will get people thinking, that you may be bluffing, when actually, you are holding a really good hand.
Examples When To Bluff
-Flop comes and you're in late position. No one is showing a strong hand.
-If you raised pre-flop. Raising pre-flop shows that you have a strong hand. If you're pretty sure your opponent drew blanks (cards that don't help him) on the flop bet on the flop.
-Missed a draw on the river. Better to use this when you think your opponent was on a draw too and he also missed.
-You're up against a conservative player and the flop is low. You feel like he is weak because he would usually have high cards.
-When you are up against a chip stack smaller than yours. -When the flop is checked and the turn is also checked to you. If these players are conservative it's a good time to bet here, if you're in the late position.
*Note: Also if you're facing a poor player. A poor player probably doesn't even use the check-raise technique. So if a poor player checks it, it usually means he has nothing.
Finishing It Up
Finally finished! I hope you enjoyed this article on bluffing and I hope you learned different things about bluffing. Almost done with the coffee? Just in time! The article is coming to a close as well. So now you can get up from your chair and put the mug into the sink for cleaning later on.
Joined: Feb '09
Location: Denmark
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 160
Bluff calls are mostly used in live poker to see your opponents hand even if you know you loose (to get/verify a read). But "bluff" is maybe a wrong term.
Joined: May '09
Location: Netherlands
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 360
I bluff a lot, but always keep it below 10% of my stack, not higher. Got a special strategy for it. I think everybody will bluff sometimes, some hate it, some know how to do it good. It's part of poker.
Joined: Jun '09
Location: Germany
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 15
Bluffing depends on the situation. If you recognize, your opponent is not there most of the time, you could try a bluff, because no one who plays with real money and is eating while playing or such crank stuff will use much concentration on the game untill he´s ready. So he folds and you get his money. Could look like this: YOU: 4 3 Him: Dunno ^^
Flop:2 9 J
YOU raise (small amount) Call RIVER: 2 9 J K Raise (great amount) Folded 9 10
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
Atention: Bluff is NOT what you have on your definition! To bluff is to make your opponent believe that your hand is different than it really is so he quits or makes a wrong bet. You can be bluffing making to look like you have a small hand instead of a big one; for instance, when you make slow play with AA. But its meaningless to have this conversation because there aren't 100% winning hands, like there aren't 100% loosing hands.
On the long-term you will lose money with bluffing at the lower levels, ppl tend to call almost everything, even if they just 've a bottom pair... and with nothing you will lose to it. Fold > Bluff, if you totally fail getting a good hand, IMO.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Norway
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 30
u CAN bluff by calling IF u have plans for later streets. If u call IP (in pos.) hu against a thinking player a good way to turn a trash hand to something which looks like nuts is to just call down flopp and turn to but a huge overbet on the river. I.M.O
Joined: Aug '09
Location: Germany
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 5
Posted by Tchungpo: for me, there is only three rules for bluff : 1) never bluff a beginner 2) NEVER bluff a beginner 3) Don't forget rules 1) and 2)
with this rules : you will soon become millionair !!
Taking everything into consideration i can only come to the conclusion, that u should never bluff a beginner because he dont realizes whether u bluff or not
Joined: Jun '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 60
Posted by TakeMeH0me:
Posted by Tchungpo: for me, there is only three rules for bluff : 1) never bluff a beginner 2) NEVER bluff a beginner 3) Don't forget rules 1) and 2)
with this rules : you will soon become millionair !!
Taking everything into consideration i can only come to the conclusion, that u should never bluff a beginner because he dont realizes whether u bluff or not
Yea beginners will call you with ace high when u r on a bluff, because they think ace high is enough lol.
Joined: Aug '09
Location: Azerbaijan
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 24
Every good player must use the bluff! But only in certain situations and against certain players (usually 1 or 2, no more!) It's wrong in fact to play without bluff and wrong to play with often bluff!
Joined: Nov '07
Location: Belgium
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 1289
Posted by shokaku:
Posted by materon: First off, you CAN'T bluff by calling someone all the way.
What? And the famous bluff call?
Second, you CAN'T bluff someone, who only sees his own cards.
Uh?
Right Bluff outta pos = strong I float alot in position and take it on the turn on a wet board and represent whats on the board. And when I bluff , I always shoot 3 barrels = else no value to win without showdown. Mister OP ( original poster) U can bluff by calling = Floating
Think U should reread terms / or study a book. If u don't,, please join my tables.
PS. I havent read the whole article, because it makes my eyes wet and cry. BUt by reading the first 5 lines, I already figured it out
And the famous bluff call? 
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