by John Imamura

Created on: November 10, 2009

How many times have you ever bluffed at a pot and your opponent is holding a monster hand? A effective bluffer must have certain skills to pull off a "bluff". They also need to make sure they have good timing and know when to bluff. A bluff in poker is defined in two ways. The first is when a player with a lousy hand makes a bet, usually an abnormally large bet , with the hopes that his opponent will fold. The other bluff is called a semi-bluff. The same type of bet is made by a player but this time they have a great drawing hand and they may get the other player to fold, or even better make their hand if their card hits. Since you cannot have a hand every hand, bluffing is an important part of successful poker players game.

The first step to effective bluffing is the ability to read players. All players at your table aggressive or conservative? Do you notice that a player folds alot? Maybe, you are sitting with a player that is very aggressive. You need make sure you know how to play each type of player before you bluff. For example, if you are playing a conservative player and they are holding a good starting hand and you have raised the pot. A conservative player usually will just call instead of re-raising to see the cards cheap. If they don't hit they hand on the flop, and you don't hit yours either, you can probably take down the pot with a medium sized bluff bet.

On the other hand, if you are playing a aggressive player and they raise the pot pre-flop and you have a flush hand, you may want to re-raise to see where you are. If the player just calls then they probably only have a mediocre hand or a drawing hand at best. If the flop hits and there is a flush draw on the board, you may want to make a small bet to see if you can get them to fold. If they call or even re-raise you still have the draw so you can even re-raise with a huge semi-bluff bet. At this point, they really have to have a hand to continue, if they call you better hope you hit your draw, if they fold, you just effectively used a form of the "bluff"

Make sure to mix up your play at the table, if you can keep your opponent guessing, you will have more command of the table and be able to use the bluff to your advantage, If you have not created the right table image, your bluff will be called. If someone have sniffed out your bluff, the chances of any more bluffs will be slim. At that point you will have to change your strategy and only play good hands, and If its not one of those times where you are hitting your cards then you will be in for a tough night!

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