If our opponent folds a worse hand we don’t usually gain anything. Bluffing against a strong range is often lighting money on fire – it’s just too unlikely our opponent is folding.įor a bluff to be profitable we want our opponent to fold a better hand. Does it consist of primarily strong hands or weak hands? We want to bluff when our opponent’s range is weak. The first thing we need to think about is our opponent’s range. Nits can also be good targets for bluffs, but should you face any resistance you should stop betting with all but the strongest of hands.Īssuming we’ve found a player who is capable of making good folds lets lay down some rules for when it’s a good spot to bluff. In practice your best targets to bluff will likely be those with TAG looking stats who appear to have at least a basic idea about what they are doing. The majority of “loose” players in today’s games are usually fish however, not competent LAGs. Assuming they are playing a very solid LAG (loose-aggressive) style they will be excellent targets – their ranges are wide, and they can lay down a huge chunk of that range when you represent an even stronger one. In theory, loose players will be better targets to bluff than tight players, but this is only true if they are capable of hand reading reasonably well. These will be players who are better than your average fish and understand what types of hands you are representing with your bets. We want to target players that are capable of folding made hands if they think they are beat. Our first rule is therefore that we don't want to bluff calling-stations or huge fish.

This is great if you want to extract value, but not so great if you want to bluff. A common complaint about lower-limit games is that players just don't fold anything.

Who should you Bluff?īefore we consider when we should bluff we will think about who make good targets for bluffing. To benefit the most from this article it will help to have read the articles “What are Ranges?” and “TAG approach”. If you only ever bet when you have strong hands you will start to become predictable.Įven if you don't need to bluff in certain games, a selection of well-timed bluffs can have a nice impact on your win-rate. As you climb the limits and face tougher opponents, bluffing becomes a necessary part of the game. It's possible to beat the lower limits in poker without ever bluffing – just waiting for strong hands and value-betting. Any time your opponent folds a hand that would normally win, you've made a profitable bluff. In Texas Hold Em, The goal of a “bluff” is to get your opponent to fold a hand better than yours.

Poker calling a bluff