You might have seen big bluffs in movies where a seemingly careless player easily puts in all his chips and makes his wimpy scared opponent fold a better hand. But as all good poker players knows knowing when to bluff, and when not to, is one of the keys to success in poker.

What is a bluff?

A bluff is essentially when the only way to win the pot is by betting your opponents out of it. As you know, the Texas Hold em rules constitute that if a hand goes to showdown the best hand wins the pot.

Knowing your bluff!

Bluffing to win the pot is of course a rather basic Texas Holdem strategy. Nevertheless, there are some basic that you should adhere when you consider bluffing in texas hold-em. You should be aware of that it’s generally easier to bluff in pot-limit and no-limit than in fixed limit due to the greater risk involved and when you win, you win more. But remember, this also goes the other way, when you fail to bluff you’ll also lose more.

One very important thing to take into the equation when you are considering a bluff is that you must have a fairly good idea of what you are up against; a bluff only works if your opponent has a hand that he is uncertain of so that you can push him to fold his hand. Trying to bluff a strong hands seldom works, especially not in fixed limit Texas Holdem where it only costs your opponent an extra bet to call and win the entire pot.

Set up your bluff. One of the best ways to induce a bluff is to represent a certain hand and play like you had that hand. For instance, let’s say its limit Hold’em and that you in late position have called a preflop raise with 9s8s. It’s only you and your opponent, and the flop is Kc-Jh-7c. Even though you only have an inside straight-draw, you might very well go ahead and call if the opponent bets. And if there is another club on turn you can either bet, or raise, to try to steal away the pot, even though your hand is hardly worth anything.

When not to bluff:

If you are up against several opponents and the board looks threatening you should refrain from. For instance, if the board reads Ah-Th-9h-8c-6d and you have more than two opponents, a bet can be foolish since you are likely to run into at least a strong pair.

Also, beware of cunning opponents, what might look like a weak opponent might very well be a trick.

So to be successful when bluffing you should pick your moments and not always try to bluff when you cannot win a showdown, else your opponents will quickly learn that you are a habitual bluffer and pick you off like ripe melons in the summer.

Return to Poker Strategy Articles