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It's a rare discussion of poker that doesn't include at least a passing reference to the art of the bluff. It's an important part of the game that helps to separate the more skilled players from the run-of-the-mill ones. More importantly, a properly executed bluff will separate the less-skilled player from his chips!

The bluff is important in poker for a couple of reasons:

In some situations you will be able to determine that a player is "on a draw". That is, they have the potential to make a strong hand but still need to catch a card to complete their hand. A typical example of this is when a player has four cards to a flush and needs to catch one more card of their suit to have a powerhouse hand. In this situation you can't afford to let the player stay in the hand for free. Besides the possibility of letting them make their hand, if you play passively you are inviting them to run over you in future hands. If you are SURE that the other player doesn't have a completed hand yet, you should consider betting so that they have a chance to throw their hand away. Bear in mind that sometimes you will not be able to get them to fold, but in many cases you can bet a large enough amount that it won't make sense for them to call. Especially when you are playing in a tournament and have significantly more chips than your opponent you will be able to pick up a significant number of chips by making it too expensive for your opponent to stay in to make their hand. This move, by the way, will be most effective if you are playing against someone that understands pot odds well enough to understand that calling your bet is a bad idea since they won't be getting the proper pot odds in relation to the chance of completing their hand. As a wise old poker player once said, "You can't scare stupid!"

the other place where a well-placed bluff can reap big dividends is when you make a bluff with the INTENTION of being caught so that your opponents will call you later on when you have a big hand. In a tournament situation you might engineer this by making a large enough bet to put your opponent "all-in" (all of their chips are in the pot) when they only have a few chips AND you know that nobody else will call your bet. If your intention is to get caught bluffing there's no real downside to this play AS LONG AS YOU KNOW THAT ONLY THE PERSON WITH A FEW CHIPS WILL CALL. Either they will call and you get to sheepishly show your lousy hand, perhaps commenting that you thought that they wouldn't call OR they fold and you get the chips in the pot. If they call, you can lay your trap later on when you have your good hand. If they fold you get the chips in the pot and you can still get caught later on if the situation arises again.

One other point about bluffing that's worth mentioning in this age of televised poker tournaments: Be very careful when watching a televised poker tournament to remember that you are only being shown the hands that make good viewing. The most interesting poker hands are hands in which a player wins (or loses) a large number of chips and the hands in which a player makes a successful bluff to win a large pot. Since a typical poker tournament takes many hours, or even days, to complete, only a few hands will be shown on television. Enjoy the program but keep in mind that the bluff is only one of the weapons in the arsenal of the professional players.

Learn more about this author, Matt Blumenfeld.
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