Establishing the bluff

[wayniac]

Ok so Im pretty new to poker.. usually preferring the thrills of sports betting. One major problem I'm having is that I suck at bluffing. I always seem to get found out despite my best efforts, and never fool anyone. A friend keeps on telling me that I must established the bluff first. What exactly does he mean by that? He just says that the key is patience but that doesnt really help much. Anyone got some advice for a poker newb? :unsure

[Run Dmc Vs Pat Nevin]

Re: Establishing the bluff Been thinking about this quite a bit myself. In the past I've been guilty of going for the all-in bluff to try and scare my opponent away. I've quickly learnt that this isn't the way to go. It sends out out a massive signal that you've no hand. A tactic I've found to work is to raise an amount that's "begging for a call." It gets your opponent thinking that you've got a great hand and are trying to milk it for all you can. I vaguely recall one Amercian commentator saying that according to the legendary Stu Unger you need to bluff at a pot twice to make it convincing. I kinda agree with that, although it is easy to get over-commited when you do it. Of course some people are just unbluffable. On low-stakes tables people will play to the river regardless of what they've got.