Strategy tip - How to catch someone bluffing!

[Jezza]

All right guys, We all know that bluffing is a famous part of poker. Indeed we have all put in beefcake bets on the river holding fcuk all - sweating as our opponents uses all their time bank and chanting FOLD FOLD FOLD from behind the safety of our monitors. When they finally do and you flash the table two useless hole cards, it is a sweet feeling it has to be said :dude. However many times we have been called, and had the table cringe as we are seen to be useless (bad!) bluffers....It's obvious after a while that the reason people tend to call so much on the internet is that nagging feeling that this guy is bluffing them...It has to be said if you are optimistic about your fellow players (and think your opponent does have what he is representing) you will fare far better than your pessimistic mate who calls everything. It is NOT often you should call with a loser in NL hold em - they should be mucked without ever paying off your opponent. However obviously there ARE times we are bluffed - how can we make sense of this? The most common time to be bluffed is when your opponent has missed a draw. The scandanvians in particular seem pecuiliarly attached to a pot they have invested a large portion of their stack drawing on and always try to reclaim it. It's not just limited to them tho, many players are guilty of it. First of all if you are ever in a situation where you are sure your opponent has had a draw, be it flush or straight and it has missed on the river - CHECK to them if you are heads up and first to go. Say you have top pair, if you bet here you are only going to get called if you are beaten but if you check you will also invite a bluff. Although you will pay off a slowplayed hand occasionly (but not likely if you were not raised on the turn) you will have a lot of positive equity from the missed draw bluff - you would never get this if you bet the river hard. A lot of aggressive players will bite at the check and make a move for the pot. One thing to note is you cannot wimp out here! You checked intended to induce a bluff, so if your opponent goes all in you have to call. If you fold you have just stabbed yourself in the back!!! Whats the point of inducing a bluff then not calling it - you make think this is a silly point but many players become awfully weak here. Anytime you are faced with a strange bet on the river you must look at the board and see if there are any missed draws, flush or straight there. Anytime there are I feel you should be leaning towards calling (but do remember sometimes players who act weak at the start of the hand but strong towards the end are slowplaying monsters - you will learn from experience when someone is drawing and when they are slowplaying). If there is no missed draw there, or indeed a draw has HIT you are almost certainly beaten and dont let curiosity kill the stack...:lol. People tend to bluff at large pots, and if you are playing good poker your opponent will have been drawing to pot size bets so the pot will be large on the river........ The bottom line is if the bet makes no sense you probably have to call it, if it does make sense then just muck your two pair ;) Jez

[DAC]

Re: Strategy tip - How to catch someone bluffing! Science, cash and human nature....what a heady mix.