Learning Poker - Bluffing

Bluffing in poker is similar to the stare down by two prize fighters before a boxing match. Neither of them knows what the other is thinking or what they have in their arsenal. They try to intimidate each other by sending a glare that represents something like “watch out buddy, I have some serious skills that will dominate you”. Obviously there’s no physical component to poker but I think you get where I’m going. The stare down tries to intimidate an opponent into making mistakes later on.

Your greatest weapon in poker is how much to bet and when to “bluff”. Poker games are available in a variety of limits. By limits I mean the structure of how much players can bet during a hand. The most popular betting structure in poker is currently no limit. No limit means you can bet up to the total amount of cash and/or chips in front of you. If you don’t know when to actually place a bet my next post will talk about position and how a hand flows.

Essentially, bluffing is placing a bet (placing money or chips into a pot) in a manner that represents a strong hand value when in fact the exact opposite is true. If you bluff too often experienced players will catch on and “call” your bluff. If you never bluff and only bet when you have a strong hand then the pots you do win will be very small. After a few hours of poker you’ll be amazed at what you learn from each player at the table. After playing for an hour or two you should be able to answer these questions relatively easy about your opponents.

1. Thrill seekers. Are there players at the table that play every hand? Who are they?
2. Rocks. Is there anyone who hardly ever plays a hand? When they do, is their hand value usually very high?
3. Unpredictable. Are there players that don’t fit the profile of neither #1 nor #2?

The hardest players to be successful against are the ones who fall into #3 above. Here's an example of a player who falls into #3;



Not to say that players who fall into category #1 & #2 are easy. At the very least #1 and #2 fall into a category in which a reasonable judgment can be made on the strength of their hand. A player falling into #1 will usually have a weaker hand value. I call them thrill seekers because they feel a need to always be a part of the action. Players falling into #2 are rocks. Meaning that when they do play a hand it’s when they have a solid hand value that can’t be beat. Finally, #3 is a player that will need to be analyzed for other “tells”. A tell is some other element of a person’s behavior that reveals the strength of their hand value.

In terms of bluffing, the hardest player to bluff is actually #1. Seem odd that someone who will likely have a weak hand is hard to bluff? Well the problem is that this person will always be in the hand. They will always want to be a part of the action no matter how much you bet. On the positive side these are the most profitable players to be up against because they will always play even when it’s obvious they are beat. I would recommend against trying to bluff a thrill seeker. With the popularity of poker increasing over the years players in this category exist but are on the decline. In my opinion players usually fall into category #2 or #3. Happy hunting for the thrill seekers!

If you learned anything in this post it should be that bluffing will need to be a part of your arsenal. To be a successful poker player I’d highly recommend developing into the unpredictable player. A player who changes betting patterns and hand selections. Hand selections will be discussed more in later posts. For now, hand selection is simply deciding whether the cards you're initially dealt are worth a preliminary bet. My next post will discuss how a typical hand hand flows!

It will be available on 6/9/10.