Bluffing - Limit Hold’em

A bluff is a very effective play and a winning player needs to know how to do it well, but not as often as you might think.

When you bluff, you raise the pot with nothing or close to nothing in an attempt to make others think you’re strong, inducing them to fold and give you the pot without having to show your cards. A few words to the wise on bluffing: In limit hold’em you will rarely bluff, not nearly as often as you would in no-limit hold’em because it’s too hard to make people fold for one bet. Pay attention to the size of the pot, people are more likely to call you if the pot is large and fold if the pot is small. You usually want to be head’s-up when you bluff and never try to bluff more than two opponents out of a pot.

The most important thing for you to know when bluffing is to know your opponent (a recurring theme). Watch them throughout the game and you’ll know when they’re on the come and then you can possibly bluff them out of the pot. Also, if you are in a pot with a bad player, don’t bluff. They will usually call anyway and you will have to show down the best hand to win. As you play more poker you’ll notice the correct situations to bluff in will find you more as you recognize them. Develop your observation skills and you will able to blend all the information given to you by opponents, pot size and game texture to decide when to bluff. Integrate bluffing into your game and you can skillfully pick up pots when you’re not dealt the winning hand.

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Position is more important in Hold’em than any other form of poker. The later you are to act, the better. The value you gain from watching all your opponents act before you can greatly influence your decisions. Let’s say you hold suited connectors, 7-8 suited, and the player under the gun raises the pot pre-flop only to be re-raised by the player to his left. The next three players fold and now your eighth to act with your suited connectors. They sure don’t look as attractive as they did 30 seconds ago. In a regular nine-handed game the blinds, player under the gun and the fourth player to act are in early position, players 5-7 are in middle position and the eighth player and button are in late position. Hands you would fold in early position become hands you can raise with in late position.

The power of position is only compounded by the fact that there are four betting rounds in hold’em. In last position you get the advantage of information exposed by your opponent’s actions on every round of betting. Drawing hands become profitable if enough players have limped in, you can give yourself a free card, you can raise with out the fear of being check-raised. When in doubt about a starting hand make sure you factor in all the advantages of late position and the disadvantages of early position into your decision.

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