How To Bluff In No Limit Holdem
One of the biggest mistakes I see in hold ‘em are players who bluff too often, at the wrong times, or in the wrong way. While bluffing certainly has it’s place in poker, it’s useless unless you use it sparingly, and if it doesn’t make sense, good players will pick you off every time.
Weaker players use bluffs as a way to win pots they can’t win without a bluff. The problem is that it doesn’t “tell the story” so to speak. Better players recognize tendencies in playing styles, and if they think a bet doesn’t add up, there’s a good chance they’ll call light and take the pot.
I’ve seen many otherwise great players make the following mistake. You can’t bluff a player who is too dumb to fold. It just doesn’t work, it’s a recipe for disaster. You need to concentrate on the players who are smart enough to lay down a hand when they don’t think they have the best of it. The better the poker player, the more vulnerable they are to bluffs.
The most common type of bluff in hold ‘em is called a continuation bet. It’s not always a bluff. A continuation bet occurs when you raise before the flop, and then bet out on the flop. Most aggressive players will bet out on a flop the majority of the time after raising pre-flop. Since the flop will miss their hand the majority of the time as well, this play is normally a bluff.
When you do bluff, you want as few players in the pot as possible. Heads up is the best case scenario. You also need the ability to put a player on a range of hands, and read the texture of a flop. If a player raises pre-flop, and the flop is all low cards, you need to be able to put him on some sort of range. If you’re confident he has two high cards, and he bets, you can re-raise and take the pot down.
Another very common, and very effective bluffing situation, is when you’re on what’s called a semi-bluff. Say you flop an open ended strait draw or a flush draw, and bet out. You more than likely don’t have the best hand at the moment, but you could win the pot on the bluff, and if you don’t, you still have a great shot at taking it down.
Another bluff that I enjoy is what I refer to as “floating” the pot. Basically it’s when I’m facing a continuation bet on the flop, and you just call with air, hoping to make a big bet and take it down on the turn or the river. This can be a risky play, but if you’re up against a smart opponent, he may read your flat call as strength and respect your bet on later streets.
Bluffing in poker truly is an art. Don’t bluff anyone who isn’t smart enough to be bluffed. Don’t bluff so often that it’s obvious. For the most part, you want to win money on your legitimate hands, and use low risk bluffs sparingly to take down a few extra pots.