Poker: Texas Hold'em

Lesson 3: Bluffing

When to Bluff

For a bluff to work, you need the other players to think you have the better hand.

The value of the bluff increases when you have gathered information about the other players:

• Their playing style
• Their betting style
• If they exhibit a tell
• The betting history of the hand

A loose player will bet on anything regardless if they have a hand or not. A tight player will only bet when they have a hand or when they have a high probability of drawing a hand in the flop. A loose player will always call or always raise a bet. Tight players will only call when they a hand and will only raise when they have a strong hand.

A tell is a clue or hint that a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his or her hand, his or her next action, etc. Professional players are trained to observe changes in behavior, facial expressions, eye movement, tone of voice, etc. to pick up on tells.

Following the betting history of a hand can give you clues as to your opponent’s hand. If they bet or raise pre-flop but then check on the turn, they are probably bluffing. If they bet or raise pre-flop and continue to bet during the subsequent rounds, they probably have a strong hand.

Guidelines:

• Bluff when there aren’t many players in the hand

• Bluff when you are up against a tight player

• Bluff on the river (the fifth and last community card)

• Bluff when you are in late position and everyone else has checked

• Bluff when you are a tight player and other players fear you

• Bluff when the flop isn’t great

It is easier to trick a couple of people versus the entire table. With fewer hands out there, chances are better that no one has made a strong hand.

Tight players will fold if they don’t have a hand. Those that tend to fold when confronted with a bet are the biggest target for a bluff.

If it looks like someone missed drawing their hand in the flop, it is a good time to bluff. A drawing hand is a presently worthless hand that has the potential to become a strong hand such as potential straights and flushes. If you can force them to fold, you keep them from seeing more cards and potentially making a big hand.

Bluffing when you are in late position will get rid of some, if not all, of the players in the hand, and you can win an easy pot.

Some players will fold automatically if all they have for pocket cards is a court card and they don’t draw it on the flop. If you check instead of bluffing, the player will stay in the hand and possibly draw a matching court card in the turn or river.

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