"When in doubt, push it all out"
~geno
In my opinion, there is no better feeling in poker than the one you get when pulling off a good bluff. To me, it is even better than winning a big pot. Why? Well, if you win a big pot, most of the time all it took was you having the better hand, but to pull off a bluff, you actually "out-played" your opponent, plain and simple, and that is such a gratifying feeling! So what is a bluff?
In many card games, but especially the game of no limit hold'em poker, to bluff is to bet or raise with an inferior hand. This is paramount strategy because it can cause other players to believe the bluffing player has a better hand, which in turn results in all folding. Sometimes the player(s) who folds does not have a decent hand and cannot call a bet anyway, but many times they will have a decent enough hand to call given the situation, and the player(s) still folds. If a player simply wins poker hands by waiting for great hands to come their way, long term success is improbably, as is the chance of that player becoming an elite player. In other words, one must have bluffing in their poker arsenal to become a great player - period.
There are many different kinds of bluffs, and an infinite amount of situations to pull off a bluff, but the basic premise of bluffing is that you are "lying", and your opponent is holding the lie detector. What is it that you want your opponent to see in the results of the test?
A pure bluff, sometimes called a stone-cold bluff, is when a player with no hand at all, and little chance of improving to a winning hand, makes a bet or a raise. A player making a pure bluff believes that they can win the pot one way and one way only: to make all opponents fold their hands. Some players just give up at this point, but a successful player "finds" a way to win these seemingly dreadful looking hands in which an average player surrenders their hand, or "throws in the towel".
In poker games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior or drawing hand that might improve in a later round is referred to as a semi-bluff. A player making a semi-bluff can win the pot two different ways: by the opponent(s) folding immediately or by receiving a card that improves the player's hand. In some cases a player may be on a "draw" (for instance, having 4 cards to a straight or 4 cards to a flush), but is actually favored to win the hand, but this is not known to the bluffer, therefore he considers his wager to be a semi-bluff.
It should be fairly obvious to the average poker player that bluffing may be more effective in some circumstances than others. Bluffs have a higher expectation when the probability of being called decreases. Several situational circumstances may decrease the probability of being called:
- The number of opponents who must fold if a bluff is attempted - one player is easier to bluff than two, and two easier than three, and so on.
- The pot odds your opponent(s) is getting during the current hand - if your opponent only has to call $5.00 into a pot of $50.00, the chances of a bluff being successful are far less than if the opponent had to call $60.00 into a pot of $50.00!
- The cards that are showing either on the board in community card games, or in front of bluffer, or opponents(s) in a stud game - trying to represent a flush on a bluff might be easier if there are actually cards that could be perceived as a possible flush showing on the board or in your hand!
- The skill level of the player(s) the bluff is directed at - if a player only plays "his" cards, he may not even recognize the bluff you are trying to pull off!
- The perceived skill level the opponent(s)has of the bluffer - if the opponent thinks the bluffer is a player who only plays "his" hand, a bluff has a better chance at being successful!
- The attention of the player(s) the bluff is directed at - does your opponent(s) even know what hands the bluffer has been playing or showing down? If one tries to bluff an opponent because they have only showed "big hands" all night, the success rate is greatly affected depending on if the opponent has observed the "big hands" all night!
- The opponent's state of mind - a player who has just been "bluffed" is more likely to call a bluff the next go around, or vice-versa, again, this depends on the skill level of the players.
It comes down to knowing your opponents, and "mixing" up your game. Meaning, if a player bluffs too infrequently, observant opponents will recognize that the player is betting for value and will call with very strong hands or with drawing hands only when they are receiving favorable pot odds. If a player bluffs too frequently, observant opponents will call the bluffs by calling or re-raising. Occasional bluffing disguises not just the hands a player is bluffing with, but also his legitimate hands that opponents may think he may be bluffing with.
Optimal bluffing requires that the bluffs must be performed in such a manner that opponents cannot tell when a player is bluffing or not. To prevent bluffs from occurring in a predictable pattern, game theory suggests the use of a randomizing agent to determine whether to bluff. Because of this strategy, a player's bluffs will truly be random, and the opponent has no way of identifying whether the bet is a bluff or not. Prior play means nothing if a bluff is to be completely random.
All in all, bluffing is truly an "art form". Image, pot size, game type, hand - everything must be factored in to pull off a perfectly executed bluff. The key, as is the key to poker, is getting yourself into your opponents' mind and to know what he/she is thinking, only then will someone be on their way to mastering the game, if such a concept is even possible! Peace.
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