It is not only what you hold in your hand but what other players think you hold in your hand. Bluffing and bluff strategy is a key element and essential in playing poker. If you can not bluff, you will not be a successful player. The goal is to trick the other players into thinking you have the best hand. Bluffing is a huge task that needs great skill. It takes the knowledge and timing along with the guts to pull it off. Bluffing can be rewarding by causing players to fold the better hands or disguising your good hands. Bluffing is great When you get away with it, but embarrassing when you are caught. The following article will teach the skills you need to be a successful bluffer.

Questions to think of before bluffing

Ok, If I bet a large amount, what kind of cards would my opponent need to call my bet? You must have gained knowledge of your opponents to know if he will call with top pair, 2 overcards, or some draw. You will then be able to say, I made this big bet, so he must at least have this or this if he calls. Now you have put your opponent on his cards and gave yourself an advantage.

How much to bluff

If you are considering a bluff, you normally should bet at least the amount of the pot. This size bet will usually make your opponent have to put in a big chunk of his stack, and if you are called with a stone cold bluff, you will not loose all of your chips. You only want to consider moving all-in in a situation where the pot is $1200 and all you have is $1800. You also want to move all-in if you have 5x or less of the big blind.

Who you should and should not bluff against

When you are thinking about bluffing, you need to know who are the players that can be bluffed. You need to find out who the loose, bad, tight, and good players are. Typically you only want to bluff against tight and good players.
A tight player is going to fold everything but the best hands. A good player may catch the bluff but will fold his marginal hands. So if you were to raise big preflop and these players stay in, if the board does not hit you, you probably shouldn’t try to bluff.

• You do not want to bluff against the loose and bad players because they do not know they are being bluffed or will just call with anything.

• You also should not bluff all in against the big stack at the table. He may call just for the small chance of getting you out of the game.

• You should also try not to bluff someone who is very short stacked. If they have anything decent they may take there chances with marginal hands.

When do you Bluff?

• The best time to bluff at the pot is after the flop when you have great position on your opponents and they have shown weakness by checking to you. You want to watch for this bluff because it is very common.

• Pre-flop, if everyone has folded to you and there are ONLY tight players behind you, you can bluff. This can also end up a good play if you get lucky on the flop.

• You want to try your bluff when there are few players in the current hand. If there are a bunch of players, it is very likely that at least someone will call you.

• If you see that possible drawing hands have missed, you can try to bluff with a decent high card or a low pair. This is because if a player knows he can’t win he will fold. If the player calls you just because of pot odds, you are still in favor. This is known as a semi-bluff

• If you make a pre-flop raise and miss on the flop, you should still bet at the pot with a bluff. You know you missed but they don’t know that. This is a dangerous bluff and you have to really evaluate the flop before bluffing at it. Make sure there are no higher cards, pairs, straight or flush draw possibilities. If you have one of these it is less dangerous. Basically you want to bluff this with higher cards.

• If you just won a good play and players acknowledge you by saying nice hand, they respect you. If you play your weak hands exactly like your strong hands, it is more likely they will fold to your bluff.

• Some players will fold if all they have is an over-card. If the flop comes up with nothing but low rainbow cards, it is unlikely someone will have hit something. But please be careful of a sence of someone holding pocket pairs.

• If a pair hits on the board that 88 or lower you can take a stab at them. Chances are that these low cards were most probably folded or still in the deck. Make sure you have carefully read your players and board incase you get a caller.

You must remember that many of these bluff tactics are very common. You may get called because they know you are trying to bluff. You can also use this to your advantage to determine if someone else is bluffing. The key to bluffing is knowing your players, bluff at the right times, right frequency, and reading as much about bluffing as you can.

You may also want to buy the Book of Bluffs

Practice your skills at Carbon Poker.