All About Bluff - The “Wazir” Of Poker

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Bluff is one of the most widely prevalent poker strategies and a very strong one indeed. It can be really difficult to recognize a bluff but there are few hacks by which you can catch a bluff in a jiffy. Firstly, you have to understand under what circumstances a player can execute a bluff effectively.

People tend to bluff in the following cases:

1. When they have weaker hands

2. When they are loose players

3. When the pot is small, etc.

Watching out for such situations at the felt might save you from this bluff trap. People usually don’t bluff when they have a strong hand. The reason is simple - when bluffed, the opponents usually fold to avoid losing money. It means the pot size decreases, giving you a reduced profit on your win.

Loose players are reckless. It gets difficult to judge what the strength of their cards is. Thus, judging them by their bets is not wise. To recognize such players, you need to play with them for quite a few days to identify their trend.

Tight players are those who do not like taking risks. Thus, a tight player hardly plays a bluff and when he does, he is sure of his opponent’s cards. Tight players are quite easily recognizable. Just with a few games, you can easily identify one even if you are not a very strong observer.

Also, always trust your gut feeling. If your intuition suggests an upcoming bluff, never ignore it. And if you feel that you can go on with the flow by not losing much, you can take some risk too.

So When Should You Opt For A Bluff?

The Call Value: While bluffing in poker, you should first and foremost think about the value when making a call. To calculate the odds: 150 / (150+150+300) which is 0.25, in other words, the minimum percentage of times you need to win is 0.25*100 = 25%. If your best hand – say a pair of 9s – is more than 25% of the time, then you can make a profitable call. This calculation will tell you about the odds, i.e. how many times you need to win the hand in order for your call to be productive.

Weak Hand: Bluffing is more beneficial when you have a weaker hand because in such cases you aim to get your opponent to fold. In case of stronger hands, it is beneficial to keep your opponents going so that the pot increases in value.

Your Image: Players who regularly use this strategy of bluffing lose the credibility of the action. Also, trying to bluff all the time can reduce the effectiveness of the action because opponents then never let their guard down.

Concluding this topic, bluffing is indeed a valuable strategy to master but making it a habit can have its consequences.