"To bluff" means to bet or raise when you haven't the best hand, to bring your opponents to fold, even if they have a better hand. An essential skill that you should start to practice whether you play free texas hold em or live room games.
Why you need to bluff?
Well, the first reason is that you can win the pot with cards worse than the others.
But there is a second reason, more refined : you need to bluff to have the possibility to win big pots when you really have the best hand.
So even bad failed bluffs can have a positive effect in that they may make other players call you when you actually have a strong hand.
But you must be careful here. Bluff too much and you set a pattern up and you will always get called and will lose much more often. if you never bluff, when you have good cards and raise the pot, your opponents fold and you win a small pot.
But if you can get it right and bluff with the right frequency, you will make your opponents unsure, and force bad decisions..
Ways to Improve Your Poker Bluffing Skills:
1) Take care when bluffing in limit games. On Limit tables you can't raise so much and your opponents can call your bet more easily that in a no limit Texas Holdem game.
2) Study the other players. If you are at a table with very good players, your chances to win are higher than a table with few.
This is true because strong players respect the bets of their opponents, and have the right discipline to fold their cards even with a medium hand.
Weaker players though don't get it, they don't consider that you may be bluffing or may call you just out of curiosity.
3) Try to build your reputation at the table. Make your opponents unsure of your moves at all times.
For example, you can start the tournament with a lot of bluffing, so your opponents will call you a lot and you can win big pots when you have the right cards.
Or you can start the tournament calling only with good cards (AK, AQ, high pairs). Later in advanced phases of the tournaments you can place some bluffs and have a good chance of winning the pot because your opponents cannot believe that you haven't got good cards.
4) Your position is decisive and in general it is good to call when you are in the last positions, near the dealer, because you have more information about your opponents.
5) Practice! Start of on free texas holdem poker sites to get the improve your skills in an environment that won't punish you financially.
6) Sometimes you can make the "semi-bluff". You bet, hoping that your opponents fold, but you still have a chance to win the pot at the showdown if there is a good turn and river. This happens, for example, when you have 4/5 flush, or 4/5 straight, or in rare cases when you have Ace-high.
Look at a semi bluff example:
You have 9 and 10 of hearts and the flop is Q-hearts , 4-clubs and 7-hearts.
In this example you don't have the strongest hand. Your opponent has 4 and 3 (very bad card preflop), he has more chances to win.
So you can try to make a semi-bluff , because you have the 4 hearts cards.You bet, and your opponent starts to think about what to do.
He has only a pair, and a very low one. He thinks: "I have few chances to win.. only a pair of 4s. He is betting, probably he has the Q.. or 7.. Uhm, let's try with another hand", and the fold comes.
And also if your opponent calls, the turn or the river can be a hearts, so you maintain good chances to win.
The Semi-bluff is also useful to contain losses.
For example, the situation is the same above ( You: 9h-10h , Flop Qh-4c-7h ), and you decide to bet.
If your opponent is weak, he’ll probably fold. But if your opponent has the Q, if you don't bet a little, he will probably bet a higher amount of chips, to let you fold, and you become unsure of what to do.
Call with 4/5 flush, or fold? However, to see the next card, you have to put in the pot more chips than if you bet for first.
If you bet a small amount of chips, your opponent probably just call, and you "buy" another card with few chips.
How to defend against a possible bluff?
There aren't many choices. You can accept the challenge, or you can fold.v For this reason the bluff and semi-bluff are a very powerful weapon.
My last suggestion: if you decide to accept the challenge, restrict yourself to call is rarely the good decision. You should raise, to let your opponent think: "Uhm, it's better to stay relaxed, my opponent has good card".
Bluffing is a poker skill that needs practice. If you're not experienced start off on free texas holdem poker sites and work your way up from there as your confidence and bankroll grows.
