Bluffing

First, let us get this clear, bluffing is betting or raising when you have no hand. Calling a raise when you have no hand is not bluffing, that is stupid.



If you watch the videos of poker professionals playing do not be misled. Of course, the video will show the highlights of the game and a lot of bluffing. What you do not see is that mostly, pros do not bluff and play smart conservative poker (which makes for boring TV -- reason for the edit out). So that right there is the first rule; if you must bluff, do it sparsely and few and far in between.

Second rule, do not bluff if you can not hurt your opponent chips-wise. If you go all-in in a heads-up situation and your chip count is not even 20% of his chip count, assume that you will get called. I would. When I am big chip leader, I even call when I have no cards just to keep the other player honest and check if it was a bluff or not.

Third rule, do not bluff when there are still more than 4 other players in the pot. Again, rule of thumb on statistics is that you will get called by the one who has the cards to beat you. So don't.

Now for some bluffing techniques.

My favorite bluff is what is called "stealing the pot". When I'm playing in the tournament style tables, I employ this usually near the end of the game when there are just 2 or maybe 3 players remaining in the table and the blinds are substantial. Betting position is crucial when you want to steal the pot. I steal pots usually when I am the last to bet and everyone just checked after the flop. What I do is just raise the minimum and check if I get called (and hope I do not get re-raised). If I do get re-raised, I pause, pretend I actually have a hand but decides to fold. Again, I emphasize, even if you are successful in stealing the pot once or twice, do not push it.

Another bluffing technique I usually employ is the semi-bluff. I only use this when I am in a desperate situation and at risk of getting blinded out. I semi-bluff by raising all-in when I get a nice hole cards (a pocket pair or an ace and a face card), or after the flop, I get a flush draw or an up and down straight draw. Yeah I know, you are not supposed to raise all-in on those, but I figure, better to lose by betting than getting blinded out.