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 Bluffing in Texas Holdem Poker.
Bluffing in Texas Holdem is one of the trickiest aspects of the game. You have to know when to bluff. Bluffing is definitely an integral part of Texas Holdem poker. One of the nice things about bluffing in texas holdem is that the community cards give you the opportunity to represent a hand that you really don?t have. To me bluffing is one of the trickiest and also the most interesting part of playing texas holdem. To bluff successfully you must consider the players, your position as well as your table image.
Bluffing in poker is one of those aspects of the game that make it so interesting to figure out. A good bluff is when you can successfully represent a hand that you do not have and can get everyone to fold and rake the pot. Bluffing is really important for two reasons. One is that it is a vital part of playing poker especially in tournament style texas holdem where the blinds go up. If you do not catch decent hands for a long time you will need to bluff just to stay alive in the game otherwise you will get blinded out.
There are two types of bluff ?s one is a semi bluff and the other is a total bluff. A total bluff is when you have no chance of winning the hand. Lets say you have 8 3 and the flop is AKJ and you bet at it like you have the Ace. One guy calls and the next card is 4 you bet again and he calls. At this point you have no chance of winning this hand and you are going to loose the hand here. You have to put the guy at least on the K or the A with a weak kicker. So you know he is not going to fold and if it comes to a show down you will be embarrassed to even show these cards. So this is what a total bluff looks like, basically a total bluff is when you have a 0 percent chance of winning or even represent a winning hand. A Semi bluff which is in my opinion a better way to go is when you are on a good draw or you at least have some possibility of winning the hand. Total bluffs tend to get you in trouble because you are drawing dead unless you know the player your bluffing and you know how to bet them out of the pot and if you cant you are in deep trouble. I personally don?t like total bluffs.
Semi bluffs are also done before the flop and are positional plays. Lets say you have good position and you look down and see 6 8 of spades. Everyone limps in and since you have position and a good hidden hand that if it hits will definitely rake you a good size pot. Also lets say you have not played a hand in a while so this will make your opponents think you have something strong. Now if they fold you rake the blinds and youre in good shape if you get a caller you have a hand that has possibilities and position so you are still in good shape. This is a semi bluff. A total bluff before the flop would be a raise with 7 2 off suit in early position. This kind of play can get you in trouble because you do not have a hand here you can possibly draw to you need to hit 7 and 2 to even compete. Also you have to act early after the flop so you don?t get to see what the other players are doing. Now there are times where you will need to bluff out of position just to mix things up.
I love bluffs because they give me that adrenaline rush other people get jumping off bridges. Plus if you can pull off a good bluff and show it you will definitely tilt at least one player at your table that will get you paid later.
One very important thing is looking for bad players when bluffing. You will not be able to bluff bad players. Lets say the flop comes AK10 and you represent the ACE or even the Str8 and you have a bad player with pocket 3 s in the hand he will not fold the hand. This is simply because a bad player will always think that their hand is the best hand and will not fold anything. These types of players are calling stations. Which will come in handy later. Just don?t waste time bluffing them. When you do have the set and they have some crappy hand they will call you all the way to the bank and you will get plenty of chips off them. So don?t worry just don?t waste your time bluffing them and loosing chips trying.
If you have some other bluffing strategy that you would care to share please post it in out poker forum.
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