Bluffing

You hear people say, "I could never be a good poker player, I'm such a bad liar." What they are saying is: Poker is about bluffing – to bluff, is to lie – thus if you can not lie, you can not play poker. It is a circular argument that does not hold up.

There is great drama in bold bluffs. Therefore they are often highlighted. Selected hands in televised high stakes poker tournaments would suggest that bluffing is the name of the game, that is how champions are made. As poker is portrayed in the movies, the caricature is completed: poker is about out-bluffing your opponents, or of course getting that royal flush! Certainly that is not the whole picture.

Bluffing is an item on the programme, perhaps also a theme, but it is not the central element of the game. To bluff is to say that you are strong when you are weak. You bluff in order for your opponent to fold, when that player in fact is stronger than you. One time a bluff can be used is on the end when there is no other way to win the pot. A check or a call will render you losing the pot. Yet with a bet, you might win it. In such a case you can be betting with nothing, not even a measly pair. It does not sound as solid foundation for a winning poker strategy.

Another type of bluff is the semi-bluff. It is more versatile than the stone cold bluff. For instance say that you are playing Texas Hold'em and your pocket cards are the suited connectors, K Q. And on the turn the board looks like: J 4 6 T. There has not been much action, no one seems to like the board. If you bet now, then you are bluffing. You have nothing. What you do have is a draw hand, cards could come on the river that makes your hand the best hand. Your open-ended straight draw with two overcards becomes a straight if the river card is any ace or nine (should they be a spade someone could have made a flush). There is also some potential in the kings and queens. This does not change the fact that when you bet on the turn, you have nothing and are bluffing. You hope that the others will fold and give you the pot. What is changed – compared to a bluff with nothing – is that even if your bluff is called, you still stand a chance to ultimately win the pot.

Bluffing is an aspect of poker and should be a part of any players game plan. If a reader has sensed a patronizing attitude towards bluffing thus far into the article, it is simply because bluffing is not as effective as people generally think. In fixed limit games and any low stakes game, this weapon is crippled. The pots tend to be proportionally big already and the resistance for the players to call another bet is low. The pressure the opponents are put under is to low, it does not cost much to call just one more bet put in relation to the potential of winning the whole, big pot. If it is likely that someone will call the bluff, then making that bluff is futile. Semi-bluffing is for that reason to be preferred over bluffing with no outs. It is a more potent weapon since it does not totally depend on if the opponents fold straight away or not.

Furthermore bluffing should not be looked upon as lying but rather as deception. If bluffing is made at the correct frequency it puts the opponents at unease. There is some to be said about the timing of bluffs – eg when you have the respect of your opponents and when the other players has shown weakness – but most important is to not over do it. When facing a bet from you, your opponents should not know what to think. Do you have the hand that you are representing or not? Are you strong or weak? If you manage to make your opponents to think like that then they will make bad decisions. Finally all is not lost if you have been bluffing to much, if your opponents are moderately good they will have noticed this. If you then use their new found knowledge against them, by only playing good hands and playing them strongly, then you will be paid off as the opponents will now call with weaker hands against you "the loose bluffer".