I learn something about bluffing.
Before you can start using bluffing to your advantage you need to know what it is all about. Generally speaking, it is not difficult to understand what a bluff is. Simply put, when you bluff during a game of poker you will be acting like you have better cards than what you do. For this reason you will be able to trick your opponents into becoming scared of your hand, and in turn they will back down. Does this sound easy enough? If so, you are at least on the right track. But when it actually comes to pulling off a bluff, things can get a bit trickier to say the least.
The first thing that you should know about bluffing is that you should use it sparingly. Yes, it can help you to win, but if you bluff on every hand you are not going to get very far. Sooner or later your opponents are going to catch onto what you are doing, and in turn your bluffing ways will come back to haunt you. So if you are going to bluff, make sure you pick and choose your spots. This way you can use it as a good winning weapon, as opposed to the strategy that you use game in and game out.
Also, you should remember that you need to hold your “poker face” when bluffing. This can be quite nerve racking, and if you do not have the ability to stay the same when you bluff your opponents will seize on the opportunity to call you out. This is why it can be so tough for new poker players to learn the art of bluffing. Not only do you need to know when to do it, but you must also keep a straight face.
Good luck birdies.
© Copyright 2008
3 comments
''IDIOTS ARE WAY TO STUPID TO KNOW HOW TO FOLD EVEN IF THEY KNOW THERE BEAT''
Bluffing is really more than an art than a science, also, keep in mind that a simple bluff based on one hand is not always the most successful form of bluffing.
Sometimes the best way to "bluff" an opponent is to get him accustomed to a certain style of play, and then radically change your playing style when the right hand comes along.
For example, in the final table of a tourney I recently played, I played pretty tight and was rather aggressive when the cards warranted it. If I had a good hand I'd raise preflop, if my hand was only average I'd limp in instead. I kept playing this way for nearly an hour as chips went back and forth across the table.
One of my opponents, on the other hand, would almost always raise on the button regardless of what style of hand he had, and if everyone else limped in he could almost be counted on for a good sized raise.
Then the opportunity I was waiting for presented itself, I got dealt pocket Aces. Rather than raising a lot preflop which would be my norm, I limped in and just called the blinds. Now, this was a bit of a risk, after all, if the other players also just limped in odds were fairly good that one of them might eventually outdraw my aces. However I felt it was worth the risk, one of my opponents was playing very loose, aggressive poker and I felt I could trap him since he had become accustomed to my style of play.
Sure enough he raised, big - about third of his stack. One other player called, when it got around to me I pushed back and reraised. I would prefer not to take pocket aces against too hands, so I pushed hard enough that the other player who had called would have to commit a good percentage of his stack in order to call me.
Sure enough the loose aggressive raised again, the other player, probably sensing the trap, bowed out. I pushed back again, forcing the lose aggressive to commit his entire stack - my pocket Aces against his K 10 off suit, a bet I was more than happy to take.
So sometimes in the big picture the true "art" of bluffing isn't just in one hand, rather it is in convincing the other players at the table that you play a certain way consistently, and then suddenly change your playing style to gain a crucial advantage.
In this case I managed to knock out a player at the final table by convincing him that I was fairly predictable and easy to read. Now, in the course of that hour I did have to lose some small pots that I might have otherwise won, and I also had to show my cards occasionaly when others would muck (not something I normally do) but in the end the effort paid off. I put my opponent in a very, very bad heads up situation that he had little chance of winning and got him to commit his entire chip stack on a bad bet because he though he could "read me" so well.