Reprinted Articles

Bluffing is a necessary evil in tournament poker. The need to win some pots when you don’t have the cards makes bluffing a requirement to winning events. Below are a couple of types of bluffs.

The types of moves range from simply stealing the blinds, to complex bluffs. We will be looking at examples where we probably, or definitely, don’t have the best hand. In these hands, we will try to convince our opponents to fold.

Stealing the blinds is picking a spot to make a raise with the hope of all remaining players folding. This can be done from any position as long as you are the first to act. When you are a short stack this is usually an all in bet. As a big stack, this can raise will vary to match the situation of the remaining players stacks, and their tendencies.

The check raise bluff is based on the strength of check raising. You’re in the big blind, with 78 of diamonds. You call a raise. The flop is AJ4 with no diamonds.

You check to your opponent, who makes a strong raise. You then re-raise, a large amount. Unless he has a monster, he will usually fold.

Another play is called the semi bluff. You look down to see KQ of hearts. You call a raise from an early position.

The flop shows J74 with two hearts. When your opponent raises you have to decide how to play this. I think here you can go all in, and put your opponent to the test.

You might get a fold. If he calls you have outs, at least nine of them. If he has AJ you will be a mathematical favorite. This is a classic semi-bluff.

Here’s a different type of bluff. You are on an open ended straight draw and have called a raise on the flop and the turn. You are first to act and the only chance to win the pot is to get a fold. Your opponent has raised twice so this is tricky, he might be very strong.

In this situation you make a small raise. This bet looks like you want to get called. If you try this play you need your opponent understands that this small bet represents a big hand that wants a call.

These are just a very small sample of the bluffs you can try. You need to creatively win chips some of the time. You can’t expect to get enough big hand to avoid this need.

Tags: Sports