PokerWorks

Everyone loves a good bluff. It's what makes poker exciting. The chance to win something with nothing... the chance to intimidate someone... to get them to fold the best hand. If poker was about the best hand winning every time, the game would lose some of its appeal. Television makes bluffing seem cool and you can't go into a card room, casino, or online poker site without seeing bluff after bluff. Bluffing is good... but the problem is most people don't know how to do it. They bluff for the sake of bluffing.

In order to pull off a successful bluff, two key elements must be satisfied. Number one: Will your opponent fold? Number two: Does your bet make sense for the action that has been taking place? If your opponent will not fold, you can't bluff... it's that simple. If they will, you need to decide whether the story adds up. Too many times people bluff without putting together the pieces and creating a story that makes sense for the betting and the cards that have been dealt.

Here's an example of a poorly played bluff:

Player A is the bluffer and has J-10 of diamonds. The flop comes 9-6-2 with two diamonds. Player B bets and Player A calls. The turn is a black 5. Player B bets and Player A calls. The river is a black 2. Player B checks and Player A decides to bet to try and take the pot.

The problem with this bet is it doesn't make sense. On a draw heavy board, Player A should have raised if he had a strong hand on either the flop or turn and he did neither. His actions led to the "I am on a draw" type of play and the bet on the river doesn't add up. If you are player B value calling here, with many hands, including ace high and any pocket pair, makes sense.

An example of a well played bluff:

Player A is the bluffer and has J-10 off suit. The flop comes 9-8-5 with two diamonds. Player B bets, and Player A calls. The turn is a 6 of diamonds. Player B checks and Player A bets. Player B calls. The river is a 2. Player B checks and Player A bets again.

Here the action both made sense and the board constituted enough of a threat to the opponent to make a two barrel (betting twice... on the turn and river) bluff logical. The only way Player B could realistically call on the river was with, at a minimum, a made straight. Player A recognized the turn card as a legitimate scare card for Player B when they checked and bet. When called, player A did not let that scare him from making the river bet, realizing that player B likely was either hoping for the board to pair on the river, or for a 4th diamond to hit, and since neither did, it is a good place to bluff again.

It's okay to want to be like all the cool kids. Everyone loves a bluffer. But if you don't plan your bluffs properly, you're only going to end up being a broke cool kid. And that's not cool.