The Art of Bluffing

Some argue that bluffing -- that is, representing a strong hand when you in fact have a mediocre or bad hand -- is what defines poker, making it different from most other card games. Being able to bluff is a crucial skill in No-Limit Texas Hold’em, very often distinguishing novices from more experienced players who know you don’t always have to make a hand to win the pot.

Bluffing

For many players, bluffing is one of the more interesting and fun aspects of no-limit Hold’em. New players especially have a hard time getting up the nerve to bluff. But when they do bluff and it works, they often get carried away and try to bluff more often than they should. In reality, you should always have a good reason when bluffing. Also, it is important to keep in mind that even if a bluff does not work on one hand, the fact that your opponents saw you bluff can be of use to you in subsequent hands.

Bluff to Win (or Confuse)

One obvious reason for bluffing is to try to win a pot you would have lost had you not bluffed. Say you find yourself calling an opponent’s raise before the flop holding a hand like 8h-7h. The flop comes 9h-6c-Ks and you call your opponent’s bet, hoping to fill your straight. The Jh comes on the turn, giving you a heart flush draw as well. Your opponent checks, you decide to bet, and your opponent calls. Then the river brings the 2c, failing to fill your draws. But your opponent, perhaps worried that you have something, checks to you.

You know if you check behind there is pretty much zero chance you can win with your lousy hand. So a bet -- a bluff -- is probably in order here.

Now, say you do bet and your opponent calls with his pocket 10s to win the hand. Too bad for you on that one, but think about what might happen a few hands later when you actually make a good hand and bet the river. Your opponents, having seen that you are capable of betting without a good hand, might be more willing to call you later on when you do have one.

Thus bluffs can serve a couple of strategic purposes -- to win pots you would have otherwise lost, as well as to make your opponents less sure about your hand strength when you bet or raise in later hands, perhaps helping you win bigger pots when you do make big hands.

Put on the Pressure

Bluffing also puts pressure on your opponents, not allowing them to relax with the knowledge that you only bet when you have it, and check or fold when you don’t. Additionally, some players are susceptible to going on “tilt” if you manage to run a successful bluff against them, thereby causing them to play subsequent hands less well and thus increasing your edge over them.

Pick your Spots to Bluff

That said, some situations are better for bluffing than others. If your opponent has shown weakness -- such as in the above example when the preflop raiser checks the river -- a bluff is often more likely to succeed. Also, it is usually better to bluff when only up against one opponent rather than multiple opponents, since you’re always more likely to get a single player to fold than to knock out more than one with your bet.

Finally, your bluff should make sense as far as the “story” of the hand goes, fitting with your action on previous streets to be more convincing to your opponent. Again, looking back at that previous example, betting on the turn with the straight and flush draws helped set up the bluff on the river when the draws didn’t come, making that bet perhaps seem more convincing as representing a real hand.

Beginners often mistakenly bluff on a river card when it seems somewhat obvious they cannot have a hand. For example, let’s say a player raises before the flop with K-Q and one opponent calls, then checks the flop and turn as the board comes A-8-T-8. The river then brings a four, making the board A-8-T-8-4, and suddenly the preflop raiser decides to bet as a bluff.

The opponent -- holding, say, a pair of fives -- has to wonder about that river bet. Why was there no bet on the flop? The fact is, that sort of bluff is much less likely to work, since the “story” leading up to it doesn’t make a lot of sense.