Bluffing Is A Must
Bluffing is a necessary evil in tournament poker. The need to win some pots when you don’t have the cards makes bluffing a requirement to winning events. Below are a couple of types of bluffs.
You can steal the blinds. You can fire twice at a pot with absolutely nothing. Whatever the type of bluff, you are trying to get your opponent to fold the better hand.
One of the easiest bluffs to run is stealing the blinds. You raise with a weak hand hoping everyone folds. You should be the first to act in this bluff. Short stacks will push all in to make this steal. Bigger stacks can push the small stacks around by constantly stealing the blinds.
Another bluff is the check raise bluff. Let’s say you are the big blind. You call a raise from the button with 78 of diamonds the flop comes AJ4 no diamonds.
You check and he bets the pot. You come back with a pot sized, or more, re-raise. If he doesn’t fold, you will stop betting and cut your losses.
You can also use the semi bluff. You have KQ of hearts. You have called a raise.
The flop comes J74 with two hearts. Your opponent raises the pot, representing a big hand, and discouraging drawing for the flush. This can be a good opportunity to push all in.
If he folds your bluff has worked. If you get called, you have outs. Any heart gives you flush. This is what a semi-bluff looks like.
A clever river bluff goes like this. You’ve been calling raises for all three betting rounds. You feel your opponent has a good but not great hand, and is worried about your hand. You have a busted draw.
Now you make a small raise. This is designed to confuse your opponent into thinking you have been slow playing a big hand. This looks like a value bet that is begging for a call. This play requires your opponent to understand that the bet represents a strong hand that you have been disguising.
This is just a small sample of the types of plays that you need to use to keep building your stack. If you want to go deep in tournaments, you need to bluff. You must make moves like these to make chips with weak cards.
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