Learning to become a successful bluffer in poker is an essential skill for any good poker player to master. However, there is a lot more to the art of bluffing in poker than most poker players realize. It is more than making a big raise just because you feel like it at that moment in time. One important factor that will make you a more successful bluffer in poker is knowing who to bluff. Let's take a look at a few bluffing tips in poker to help you decide who you should bluff.
There are certain types of players that are vulnerable to bluffing and certain types of players in which bluffing will be much more difficult against. For starters, you never want to bluff a beginner or novice poker player. Most beginners play straight forward poker in that if they have a hand they call and if they don't they fold. Many times they don't even consider their opponents cards, they are just playing their own cards. So if you bet into a novice poker player and they call then do not bluff at them on a later street even if a dangerous card falls on the river. For example, let's say you bet the turn with a straight draw and your novice opponent calls your bet. You figure he has a marginal hand like middle pair. You miss your straight draw on the river but realize that a third spade landed making for a possible flush. You are considering bluffing the river with your missed straight draw to try to represent a flush. We have to remember that our opponent is a beginner player and is more than likely not even considering what you have. He is probably going to call the river because he has a pair. Therefore, it is not a good idea to attempt bluffing novice poker players. They are more likely to call your bet simply because they don't know any better.
Another type of player that you do not want to bluff is a calling station. A calling station in poker is a player that calls all the time. If they have any type of draw (even an inside straight draw) or any pair whatsoever these players call and call all the way to the river trying to make their hand. The purpose of bluffing is to try to get your opponent to fold their hand. It is usually not a good idea to bluff calling stations because they rarely fold.
Trying to bluff maniacs in poker is also a bad strategy. A maniac is a player who plays almost every hand and bluffs a lot. Since these types of players bluff so much themselves they usually think that other people are bluffing all the time like them and therefore are more likely to call your bluff.
If you can't bluff beginners, calling stations, or maniacs then who can you bluff? The types of players that you should be looking to bluff are tight, solid players. A tight solid poker player is someone who does not play a lot of hands and is unwilling to put a lot of chips into the middle unless they have a really strong hand. Since it is difficult to make strong hands all of the time and these types of players will fold unless they have a strong hand they are good candidates to bluff. If you try bluffing these types of opponents you will find that more and more of your bluffs will be successful.
There are certain types of players that are vulnerable to bluffing and certain types of players in which bluffing will be much more difficult against. For starters, you never want to bluff a beginner or novice poker player. Most beginners play straight forward poker in that if they have a hand they call and if they don't they fold. Many times they don't even consider their opponents cards, they are just playing their own cards. So if you bet into a novice poker player and they call then do not bluff at them on a later street even if a dangerous card falls on the river. For example, let's say you bet the turn with a straight draw and your novice opponent calls your bet. You figure he has a marginal hand like middle pair. You miss your straight draw on the river but realize that a third spade landed making for a possible flush. You are considering bluffing the river with your missed straight draw to try to represent a flush. We have to remember that our opponent is a beginner player and is more than likely not even considering what you have. He is probably going to call the river because he has a pair. Therefore, it is not a good idea to attempt bluffing novice poker players. They are more likely to call your bet simply because they don't know any better.
Another type of player that you do not want to bluff is a calling station. A calling station in poker is a player that calls all the time. If they have any type of draw (even an inside straight draw) or any pair whatsoever these players call and call all the way to the river trying to make their hand. The purpose of bluffing is to try to get your opponent to fold their hand. It is usually not a good idea to bluff calling stations because they rarely fold.
Trying to bluff maniacs in poker is also a bad strategy. A maniac is a player who plays almost every hand and bluffs a lot. Since these types of players bluff so much themselves they usually think that other people are bluffing all the time like them and therefore are more likely to call your bluff.
If you can't bluff beginners, calling stations, or maniacs then who can you bluff? The types of players that you should be looking to bluff are tight, solid players. A tight solid poker player is someone who does not play a lot of hands and is unwilling to put a lot of chips into the middle unless they have a really strong hand. Since it is difficult to make strong hands all of the time and these types of players will fold unless they have a strong hand they are good candidates to bluff. If you try bluffing these types of opponents you will find that more and more of your bluffs will be successful.
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