Introduction to Bluffing
Poker is a game steeped in chicanery and outwitting your opponents. The
ability to narrow down your opponent’s hand range and “out-level” him
psychologically is more or less the foundations of poker - also that and
maths.
But when it comes to bluffing, there is a lot more than just shoving
your chips into the middle of the table under pressure and hoping that
your opponent folds. In fact, 9 times out of 10 in a real life poker
game you’ll get insta-called since it probably won’t add up and your
opponent will have been reading your line and being able to tell that
you were bluffing.
In reality, bluffing is the art of manipulating your opponent and making
it difficult for him to read what you actually have. In the long run
this will earn you more money, either by making opponents fold when you
were bluffing with air, or by sending them signals that you are very
weak but in reality you want them to call big value bets when you
actually have them dominated (e.g. AA vs 55).
Types of Bluff
There are a number of different types of bluffs in poker which can be
used under different circumstances and with different types of hands or
opponents.
1. Pure Bluff: Perhaps most well-known for its publicity in TV and
movies; the stereotypical “pure bluff” involves shoving your chips
all-in (or over betting the pot) with complete air in the hope that the
pressure and stakes will force your opponent to capitulate and fold.
From my experiences the pure bluff is more of a defensive manoeuvre by
weak opponents who’ve been cornered. You never normally want to be
risking all of your chips with nothing.
2. Semi-Bluff: A far more profitable and flexible move, the
semi-bluff is when you bluff with a hand that still has “outs” or
“equity” just in case you get called. Typical hands to semi-bluff
include drawing hands such as over cards, straight draws, flush draws,
and bottom or middle pair. The main advantages of semi-bluffing is that
it gives you extra ways to win the pot, helps balance (distort) your
hand range and it can increase your implied odds in case you improve
your hand by the river.
3. Check-Raise: The check-raise is a very sneaky buff that is used
mostly against loose-aggressive players (LAGs) in the low to high stakes
games. Check-raising involves slow-playing a very strong hand such as
top two-pair or full house out of position in the hope that your
opponent will raise you. You can then “re-raise” your opponent which
has the outcome of building up the pot bigger than you otherwise would
have. Another type of check-raise is the “bluff-raise”. This is a lot
more difficult to master since it involves check-raising with a weak
hand in the hope that it will represent a strong hand and force your
opponent to fold. Remember however that unlike the pure bluff and the
semi-bluff, with the check-raise you want your opponent to call since
you are raising for value.
4. Continuation Bet: By far the most common bluff and easiest to
master, continuation betting involves raising the flop on a missed board
when you were the last pre-flop raiser. If you then bet the turn after
getting called it’s called “double-barrelling”, and again betting the
third street consecutively is called “triple-barrelling”.
5. Post-Oak Bluff: Probably the most advanced and difficult to
manoeuvre, the post-oak bluff involves putting in a cheeky thin-value
bet on the river hoping that your opponent will think that you have the
nuts so he will fold. It basically uses a lot of reverse-psychological,
but in order to pay off you need to be confident that your opponent is
capable of folding and reading you as very strong.
