PokerWorks

If you play at low fixed-limit Texas Hold’em tables ($1/$2 or $2/$4 for example), you will see quite a lot of bluffing going on. You will know they are bluffs because the cards are exposed to the players at showdown. Unfortunately for the bluffers concerned, if it has come to showdown, the bluffs will have failed!

At low stakes poker, many players do not feel much pain if they blow their stack of $40 or $50. They will mumble about their bad luck and reload. The failure of such players to attribute adequate value to each dollar in their stack leads to a lack of care in their play. The tendency is to play marginal hands through to the river in the hope of catching a card. When it doesn’t come, a surprising number will actually try to bluff the opponent off his hand with a raise after the opponent has himself just bet. Others are not bluffers but will call a bet just in case the bet is a bluff!

In either case, the player is reluctant to surrender the pot because of the money already committed. The bluffer justifies his raise because he knows that the occasional tight player will give up his own hand if someone raises against him. However, often the opponent will not give it up because it is only the cost of one more bet. If the bluffer repeats this too often, he loses credibility and will be called every time thereafter.

In limit poker, the most successful bluffs are executed by the initial aggressor, the one leading out with the bets. While it is true that many players will call any bet on the river if they have any part of the board, such as a low pair, the aggressor should consider if the board cards suggest someone is drawing to a flush or a straight. It is those players who have missed their draws that will tend to fold to a river bet because they have missed the big hand despite perhaps having a low pair.

Someone holding AK, for example, may raise before the flop and get some gullible callers. The flop and turn may not help him but he continues to lead out representing strength, all the while hoping to hit his top pair. At the river, he should bet out again regardless of the card if he is still first to act. Checking is a fatal sign of weakness. A caller with a small pair may not be happy calling the last bet if there are several overcards on the board which the aggressor has represented.

Generally, bluffing at low-stakes limit poker is unlikely to work most of the time and you should use it sparingly as a tactic. A bluff is only worth one step in the betting so the pot odds will often keep a player in until the river. The one time where it is a valid move is when you have been representing strength but have missed a hand after the turn card. Then you should bluff at these higher betting rounds unless you know the opponent is reluctant to fold.

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