Everyone wants to bluff when they play poker. We have all seen the bluffs on ESPN where the amateur player bluffs the pro off of a big pot with a hand like T-3 off suit. However, bluffing is not as easy as it seems. Knowing what situations to bluff in and knowing how to make your bluff believable is extremely important. Just randomly bluffing in a poker games will likely get you into trouble and lose you a lot of chips. Here are a few tips to make bluffing a profitable strategy in your poker arsenal.
The first rule of bluffing at a poker table is, the more players you are trying to bluff against, the harder it is to bluff them all. In other words, if you see a flop with one other player in the hand, it is much easier to make a successful bluff than it is if there are still 4 or 5 players left in the hand. Think of it this way: is it easier to convince one person of your point of view or 5 people? Obviously, the answer is one, and the same goes for bluffing.
The other reason it is not necessarily even advisable to try to bluff with more people still in the pot, is that there is a greater chance that someone hit his hand, thereby rendering your bluff laughable and useless. Bluffing when someone else has made their hand is a great way to lose chips.
The second aspect of bluffing, is that your bluff should tell a story. If your story is believable, then your bluff has a greater chance of succeeding. If your story is not believable, then your bluff will most likely fail. For example, if you make a bet of $100 into an $800 pot, your bluff is probably going to result in a call or a raise. However, if you take that same pot of $800 and bet $600, your story because much more easy for the other player(s) to swallow.
The same holds true on the Turn and the River. If you are trying to tell a story that you have the winning hand on the flop, then you need to keep telling that story on the Turn. After all, why would you suddenly check the Turn if you claim to have had a hand on the flop? Most of the time because you got chicken! Keep your story easy to believe and your bluffs will work much more often. If you don't believe it yourself, don't expect your opponents to.
The third tip to make successful bluffs to to learn to read the texture of the flop. Is it likely someone else hit their hand based on the cards that you see in front of you? If there is an Ace on board, then it very well may be silly for your to try and bluff two other players with K-Q. One of them is likely to have an Ace.
However, by the same token, a flop of 2-2-8 is unlikely to have hit any of the other players in the hand. This is a perfect time to bluff. Even if your opponents know you are bluffing (or suspect) they probably do not have a hand to go with this flop to stop you.
Of course, there are many more nuances and aspects to making bluffs work at the poker table. But, to start out, following these three simple rules will improve your chances, make you harder to read at the table, and make your bluffs have a much better chance of succeeding.
The first rule of bluffing at a poker table is, the more players you are trying to bluff against, the harder it is to bluff them all. In other words, if you see a flop with one other player in the hand, it is much easier to make a successful bluff than it is if there are still 4 or 5 players left in the hand. Think of it this way: is it easier to convince one person of your point of view or 5 people? Obviously, the answer is one, and the same goes for bluffing.
The other reason it is not necessarily even advisable to try to bluff with more people still in the pot, is that there is a greater chance that someone hit his hand, thereby rendering your bluff laughable and useless. Bluffing when someone else has made their hand is a great way to lose chips.
The second aspect of bluffing, is that your bluff should tell a story. If your story is believable, then your bluff has a greater chance of succeeding. If your story is not believable, then your bluff will most likely fail. For example, if you make a bet of $100 into an $800 pot, your bluff is probably going to result in a call or a raise. However, if you take that same pot of $800 and bet $600, your story because much more easy for the other player(s) to swallow.
The same holds true on the Turn and the River. If you are trying to tell a story that you have the winning hand on the flop, then you need to keep telling that story on the Turn. After all, why would you suddenly check the Turn if you claim to have had a hand on the flop? Most of the time because you got chicken! Keep your story easy to believe and your bluffs will work much more often. If you don't believe it yourself, don't expect your opponents to.
The third tip to make successful bluffs to to learn to read the texture of the flop. Is it likely someone else hit their hand based on the cards that you see in front of you? If there is an Ace on board, then it very well may be silly for your to try and bluff two other players with K-Q. One of them is likely to have an Ace.
However, by the same token, a flop of 2-2-8 is unlikely to have hit any of the other players in the hand. This is a perfect time to bluff. Even if your opponents know you are bluffing (or suspect) they probably do not have a hand to go with this flop to stop you.
Of course, there are many more nuances and aspects to making bluffs work at the poker table. But, to start out, following these three simple rules will improve your chances, make you harder to read at the table, and make your bluffs have a much better chance of succeeding.
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