"To bluff" means to bet or raise when you haven't the best hand, to bring your opponents to fold, even if they have a better hand. An essential skill that you should start to practice whether you play free poker or live room games.
Why you need to bluff?
Firstly it enables you to win with cards that are not so great.
Secondly, and I think more important, you bluff so you can win big pots when you do have the best hand.
So even bad failed bluffs can have a positive effect in that they may make other players call you when you actually have a strong hand.
But you must maintain the balance: if you bluff too much, your opponents will always call your bet and you will lose your money. if you never bluff, when you have good cards and raise the pot, your opponents fold and you win a small pot.
But if you can get it right and bluff with the right frequency, you will make your opponents unsure, and force bad decisions..
Ways to Improve Your Poker Bluffing Skills:
1) Take care when bluffing in limit games. On Limit tables you can't raise so much and your opponents can call your bet more easily that in a no limit Texas Holdem game.
2) Study the other players. If you are at a table with very good players, your chances to win are higher than a table with few.
This is true because strong players respect the bets of their opponents, and have the right discipline to fold their cards even with a medium hand.
The weak player, instead, doesn't understand that you are trying to bluff, or calls your bet just out of curiosity.
3) Try to build your reputation at the table. Make your opponents unsure of your moves at all times.
For example, you can start the tournament with a lot of bluffing, so your opponents will call you a lot and you can win big pots when you have the right cards.
Or you can start the tournament calling only with good cards (AK, AQ, high pairs). Later in advanced phases of the tournaments you can place some bluffs and have a good chance of winning the pot because your opponents cannot believe that you haven't got good cards.
4) Your position is decisive and in general it is good to call when you are in the last positions, near the dealer, because you have more information about your opponents.
5) Practice! Start of on free texas holdem poker sites to get the improve your skills in an environment that won't punish you financially.
5) Learn to do the semi bluff. In the semi bluff you bet hoping they will fold but your cards might be good enough to win the pot if the turn and river are good. This happens, for example, when you have 4/5 flush, or 4/5 straight, or in rare cases when you have Ace-high.
Look at a semi bluff example:
You have 9 and 10 of hearts and the flop is Q-hearts , 4-clubs and 7-hearts.
In this case you haven't got the best hand. Your opponent has 4 and 3 (very bad card preflop), he has more chances to win.
So you can try to make a semi-bluff , because you have the 4 hearts cards.You bet, and your opponent starts to think about what to do.
He has only a pair, and a very low one. He thinks: "I have few chances to win.. only a pair of 4s. He is betting, probably he has the Q.. or 7.. Uhm, let's try with another hand", and the fold comes.
And also if your opponent calls, the turn or the river can be a hearts, so you maintain good chances to win.
The Semi-bluff is also useful to contain losses.
For example, the situation is the same above ( You: 9h-10h , Flop Qh-4c-7h ), and you decide to bet.
If your opponent is weak, he’ll probably fold. But if your opponent has the Q, if you don't bet a little, he will probably bet a higher amount of chips, to let you fold, and you become unsure of what to do.
Call with 4/5 flush, or fold? However, to see the next card, you have to put in the pot more chips than if you bet for first.
If you bet a small amount of chips, your opponent probably just call, and you "buy" another card with few chips.
How to defend against a possible bluff?
There aren't many choices. You can accept the challenge, or you can fold.v For this reason the bluff and semi-bluff are a very powerful weapon.
My last suggestion: if you decide to accept the challenge, restrict yourself to call is rarely the good decision. You should raise, to let your opponent think: "Uhm, it's better to stay relaxed, my opponent has good card".
Bluffing and semi bluffing are skills that need lots of practice. If poker is a new game for you or if you've not done much bluffing before I advise you practice at first on free texas holdem poker sites like http://www.nopaypoker.com . The, as skills and bankroll grow you can move up to real money.
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