Poker Opinion: Bluffing

After you have learnt to play your own hand in poker, you are ready to move on to more complex poker skills. The first, and probably most famous of all poker skills is bluffing. The best tip you will ever receive is that to be successful at bluffing, you need to be convincing, and it’s not as easy as it sounds.

You should play your bluffs the same way you play your great hands. You need your opponent to feel that you have them beat. For example, if you always raise twice the size of the pot with an excellent hand, then you should do the same when bluffing.

You may ask yourself how bluffing can help you in the Betfair Poker Championship?

You cannot win a large tournament with cards alone; you need a mixture of different poker skills and luck to win a large tournament. Successful bluffing is crucial at certain stages in a poker tournament. It is not so important to bluff in the early stages of a tournament when survival is the key. And never forget that, when bluffing, you are always taking the risk that someone will call you.

Before we look at the factors you should consider when deciding whether to bluff, it is important to categorise bluffing into two types, a total bluff and a semi-bluff.

A total bluff is a bet or raise where there is little or no chance that you could win the pot if one or more of your opponents call. For example, if the board shows QK982 and you have 37 and you make a bet or raise then this is a total bluff, because if called, you wouldn’t win the hand with 7 high.

A semi-bluff is a much more common type of bluff. It is a bet or a raise when you are drawing to a much better hand, but you don’t have much at the moment. This type of bluff can be very profitable because you can win two ways. Firstly, if your opponents pass immediately then you will have won the pot. Secondly, even if they do call your bet it is possible that you have cards that can still win the hand for you. For example if it flops 78A and you have 9T, then you have a good basis for a semi bluff. Even if one of your opponents calls, you still have 8 cards that can give you the top straight. If you are going to call a raise it is often beneficial to make the raise yourself as you could win the hand there and then.

The following factors should be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to bluff a hand.

1. Your table image

This is crucial if you are going to be successful at bluffing. Have a think about how your opponents may perceive you. If you have a reputation for bluffing frequently then it is far more likely that an opponent will call your bluffs because they won’t believe that you have a strong hand. On the other hand, a player who rarely bluffs and normally only plays good hands is far more likely to be able to bluff successfully because players will assume they have a good hand. To an extent, table image is less important playing online poker because only serious opponents will take notice of other player’s poker style. (See article 1 to learn more about this).

2. Your Opponents

Bluffing is likely to be far more successful on a table where the players are conservative and only play with very good hands. On a table full of players who will play with weaker hands you are far more likely to get called. You have to think about the style of play your opponent has if you are going to try and bluff them. If they regularly stay in hands all the way to the showdown, they are going to be much harder to bluff, whereas tight players are easier to bluff, because they will only call with very strong hands. Think about the following question - what does it take to make that player to fold their hand? The answer to this question should give you a guideline on how often you should try to bluff them.

3. Nature of the board

This will have a big affect on the chance of a bluff succeeding. A board that has a lot of draws is usually not a good opportunity to bluff, as it is quite likely that one or more of your opponents will call to hit one of those draws. Also high flops are far harder to bluff because it is likely that someone has hit.

4. Position

This is also a crucial consideration when bluffing. The most common bluff is when a player bets when everyone else has checked. If you are first to bet on a table of 8 players and you try a bluff, then it is likely that one of the 7 players after you will have a hand and call.

5. A raise before the flop

By raising before the flop you are trying to indicate to your opponents you have strong hand. A bluff on the flop is likely to be much more successful if you have demonstrated strength beforehand.

6. Number of opponents

A bluff is likely to be far more successful when the field has been narrowed down to a few players than against lots of opponents. The more players you try and bluff against the more likely that one of them holds a strong hand and is likely to call your bluff.

7. Pot size

This will also have a big bearing on whether your bluffs are successful. It is harder to bluff a bigger pot because your opponent will have better pot odds if they call you. Also if a player has played their hand all the way to the river, then unless that player was on a draw, there is a good chance they will call a bet. They may already have put quite a lot into the pot and they know they won’t have to face any more bets if they do call.

8. Do your opponents know what they are doing

This may sound a strange factor to take into consideration but it is extremely difficult to bluff against players who don’t really know how to play the game. They will often call with small or medium pairs if you try and bluff them.

9. Have you bet all the way through?

If you have bet all the way through you pave the way for a bluff on the river. However, if you have just called all the way through and the board doesn’t seem to have changed much, if you make a big bet your opponent is far more likely to become suspicious and call you.

Opponents stack size

This is also an important consideration when considering a bluff. If one of your opponents has very few chips left and has already committed a lot of his chips on his hand it is extremely unlikely you can bet him out of it with a bluff. Also in competitions you should avoid bluffing the chip leader too much because he can afford to call you and still be in a strong position.

Ben "Bennyboi" Grundy

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