Far too many players, especially those new to the game, think poker is all about bluffing. Actually, the power of bluffing is used far less than these players imagine.
The basic principle of bluffing is that you want to bluff with a little more than you need to get the job done; i.e. your opponent to fold their hand which you are sure is better than yours. For example, let’s say you think your opponent has a pair vs. your ace high. You’re sure that the only way you could possible win the pot is to bluff and there are lots of scare cards like a possible straight and/or flush. You only want to bet a little more than enough to get your opponent to fold because there will be instances where you completely misread your opponent and instead of holding a pair, your opponent has one of the straights or flush that you’d never get them to fold anyway. You can see how this misread could be disaster if you overbet your bluff.
For example, suppose your heads-up, the pot stands at $50. You and your opponent both have about $500 in chips. The flop is 
Both players check and the turn is 
Both players check again and river is 
Don’t think to bluff here that you need to push all your $500 into the pot. That would be a costly mistake if you completely misread the situation and your opponent did have the jack, given him the nuts… no amount of money in the world would force someone off that hand.
Determining the size of the bluff however is not always easy to figure out. You have to consider a few factors.
- What do you think your opponent has.
- What do you think your opponent thinks you have.
- What is the size of the pot.
- How experienced is my opponent; i.e. does he/she understand things like pot odds, etc.
Based on how you answer those three questions, you can make an educated guess as to how much it will take to get your opponent to fold their hand.
6 responses so far ↓
Richard // Apr 3, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Haha, man, I used to be one of those that bluffed almost every single hand. I’m not going to say how well I did using that strategy though.
I agree with your factors. Those are pretty spot on. I think you can add a few others, though some of them dependent on the factors already listed.
1. How has the hand been played to the river.
2. What type of player they are (some players call the river no matter what)
3. Is the river card something that would logically help you? (if you answered #2 as weak passive, then this wouldn’t matter)
4. Also position is key (in this scenario it looks we’re first to act, so that makes the decision to bluff a bit different).
donnylucky // Apr 4, 2007 at 12:56 am
Great advice. I’ve seen donkeys push everything in on a bluff, only to find out that I’m holding the jack. Love it when they hang themselves.
Come to think of it. I seem to recall Richard Pooosshing all-in on a bluff before. *snicker*
Richard // Apr 4, 2007 at 6:37 am
Say what you want, donny, but that doesn’t change that fact that I won 2 dollars off you. And if I remember correctly it was on a 6-4 bluff or something.
David // Apr 4, 2007 at 9:40 am
If you two don’t quit bickering, I’ll turn this blog right around.
And Richard, I agree with all those addition, I’d say that position is the most important of those though. However, I disagree that it matters in the situation above. Heads-up, if it is checked that many times and I can satisfactory answer my three questions, I’m probably going to attempt a bluff, regardless of position.
donnylucky // Apr 4, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Lol. yeah, that 2 dollars… I’m gonna pull a 64 off suited bluff on you to recover that someday.
Seriously, I agree with your assesment of postional advantage. I’ve seen some outrageous moves from aggressive players bluffing from out of position in a multi-way pot.
It’s amazing how big a stack they accumulate just from pushing 3 or more players off the pot, with just pure aggression. Of course, sometimes another player wakes up with a TPTK or a set and call him down to the river.
Postflop skills and pure guts.
FourPips // Jun 2, 2007 at 3:22 am
Nice one, I used to be one of those players that bluffed way too often - then got caught once in awhile, usually on massive pots, doh!
I tink you are def right though, bluffing isn’t done as often as people think.
Hope you don’t mind - I linked to this article on my website.
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