Posts Tagged ‘bluff’

To Bluff Or Not To Bluff? That Is The Question

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

When it comes to bluffing in poker, either you’ve got it or you don’t. Some players are masters at bluffing while others are dead giveaways every time. If you are one of those players who haven’t quite got bluffing down yet, here are a few tips to help you along your way.

For starters, you don’t want to become known as a bluffer so don’t bluff on a majority of hands. When you do that it’s like the boy who cried wolf—the other players will expect that you’re bluffing and will call you on it. Bluffing works best when you use it so rarely that no one sees it coming. If you usually only go into the showdown with great hands then you are building up your bluff equity, so when you do bluff everyone will think you’re telling the truth.

Before you bluff you should also consider the type of hands that the other players who are still in are holding. If you suspect that one of the other players has the nuts or a really strong hand then you may want to call it quits rather than bluff a good hand and lose even more money.

Finally, understand that the higher the stakes the better at bluffing your opponents will be and the harder it will be to read them. Start out with free poker and low stakes poker games to practice your bluffing skills and then work your way up through the stakes as you improve.

Making Bluffing Work for you Online

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

A lot of inexperienced poker players think that the strategy of bluffing doesn’t apply when you are playing poker online. After all, when you play on the Web the other players can’t see you so what good does your poker face do you? I’ll admit that I once shared this belief. However, it turns out that there are a few tips and strategies that can help you make bluffing work for you when you play poker online.

You are right that your poker face won’t help you when you play online. However, you can still do a lot by bluffing through your betting patterns. For instance, if you simply call or check on a pair of Aces your opponents will have no idea that you have a good hand. On the other hand, raising on a hand that is only so-so will give your opponents reason to believe that your hand is much better than it is.

By sitting in a late position at the table you can increase the credibility of your bluff. You can also see what the other players are doing first in order to give yourself more information to go on. If the players before you all call then by making a big raise you could get them all to fold.

When it comes to bluffing in online poker, keep in mind that you can’t make it a habit. If you always bluff then you’ll give yourself away. However, if you leave your regular betting habits once in awhile you can use bluffing to your advantage.