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What's 'Bluffing' Exactly?
Bluffing is the act of raising the pot in a round of
poker in the hopes of making other players fold,
without actually having a good hand to back up the
bets and/or raise(s).
For
example, playing with a group of friends you're dealt
a pair of two's - but there's no-one else raising on
the table, so you raise the maximum amount and fake a
quick smirk as if impressed with your hand. The 2
people left on the table decide to cut their losses
rather than feed the pot and fold. You win with a
lowly pair and rake in the pot. That's bluffing.
Why
Should Someone Bluff?
Assuming proper poker strategy is played, bluffing is
actually the one factor that turns poker into a true
game of skill. It serves two main purposes:
Lets
explain. As in the example above, you can see how it's
possible to win a pot even when you're dealt squat -
there are times when the players around you don't have
much of a hand either and would rather fold and cut
their losses than for the win. Of course, you don't
have to have an awful hand to bluff - you're
just assuming that you don't have the best hand
at the table (if you think you have the best hand,
you're not bluffing now are you? :).
You'll
need to bluff occasionally to get bigger pots
out of the table. It's simple actually, if you only
raise when you've got a good hand - it doesn't take
long for other players to notice and act accordingly.
Sure, your good hands will still win the pot, but if
everyone folds on your first raise you won't be
winning much - so players need to believe you're at
least capable of bluffing.
But
that's the beauty of bluffing - you can do it so many
ways. You can act like someone that doesn't bluff and
then turn into one that does, and watch people fold on
your worst hands. You can intentionally bluff too much
then watch everyone feed the pot not knowing you have
four aces in your hand.
No
single bluffing technique will work at any given time,
it depends on who you're playing with and whether
they've caught on! Try to mix up your strategy before
people get wise to you.
How
do you bluff when your 'poker face' is digital?
There's no denying that there's more intricacies to
bluffing when you're playing with people face to face,
as your gestures, demeanor and what you say can all
play a part in your bluffing strategy (or determining
other peoples bluffing habits). When playing online
poker you don't get to 'see' people, so bluffing is
reduced to your actions on bets and raises throughout
multiple hands. Still - it plays an essential part of
any poker game, so be sure to make it part of
your game, online or off.
Some
Bluffing Tips:
-
Don't
be too predictable. In some cases you'll want to
appear predictable to get players doing what you
want, but if you don't change your habits from time
to time you'll start losing fast.
-
Bluffing doesn't usually work when there's a packed
table of people still in on the hand. Don't expect 5
other players to fold, chances are someone has a
good enough hand to stay in.
-
People
are less likely to fold in split pot games like
Hi/Lo because they've got a better chance of winning
half the pot than they would in a 'winner takes all'
game. This is especially true for Hi/Lo, when many
players will qualify for a low hand. Bluff
accordingly.
-
Know
when to fold 'em. It's inevitable that you won't win
every hand that you've bluffed on - sometimes your
opponents will have strong enough hands to stay in
no matter how much you raise. It's a bad habit to
fold every time a player raises your bluff (unless
you want people to know every time you're bluffing).
At the same time, it's bad for your stack of poker
chips to follow all your hands through when it's
obvious you're going to lose.
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