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- Texas Holdem: How to Bluff and How Not to Bluff
Texas Holdem: How to Bluff and How Not to Bluff
- By Jack Reider
- Published 10/29/2007
- Gambling
- Unrated
Jack Reider
When Jack Reider was a young boy his father bought him a toy slot machine, now he loves playing the Slots in Online Casinos and land based casinos as well.
View all articles by Jack ReiderLearn the forgotten art of playing Texas Holdem. Get information about when to bluff at poker and when not to.
When playing any poker game and especially Texas Holdem, bluffing to win is a required tactic but a dangerous one. If you perform it well, you win, if you perform it badly, you will lose. At first glance, it seems that it is worth the chance, but no. Unless you can bluff like an expert and unless the conditions are right, do not bluff. Remember that if caught bluffing at Texas Holdem, you will not only lose, but you will lose a big amount of money.
1) Check to see that the group of players playing for the pot is small. The biggest reason why you should do this is that it is easier to fool a small group than a large one. Another viable problem is that if the players are many, some might simply be dumb and not fully understand the true extent of your bluff. Whatever the case you have to take into consideration that a large group is tougher to bluff. Do not argue. It is simply so.
2) Do not bluff if your hand is weaker than a pair and to be on the safe side, better to have at least two pairs even if these are weak. Note that a player or two will remain in the game even if they have no hand whatsoever. They hope to learn how others play so that they will be able to beat them in later rounds. Such players can be caused to fold if you bluff well. Other than that, always take into consideration that some player will always remaining thinking you are bluffing. So, at least have a good enough hand to beat them.
c) Seating is very important to bluffing. If you are the first player when playing Texas Holdem that has to make a decision, or if you are the last player that has to decide, you have an upper hand on the rest of the players. If seated in the beginning, you can terrorize the rest by placing a large bet when the Holdem Dealer asks you to make your move. Big bets placed in the beginning of a round will scare off those players who have small hands and leave you to go he
4) The perfect time for a bluff is when someone has just forced you to show your hand, and you had a strong winning hand. This will earn you some respect at the holdem table and the other players will know you have a good poker head on your shoulders. Now is the perfect time for a bluff. If you bet the same way you did in the previous hand it will throw them off and they will be confuses as to your playing style. This will make it harder for them to get a read on you and your game.
5) If on the flop a pair is revealed and the value of the pair is less then nine then there is a good chance that a strong bluff now will make people think you either already have a pair in your hand or you at least have the third card of that value in your hand giving you a 3 of a kind.
6) Pay attention to how the other players at your table but and what their hands are at the end. Poker players who only bet when they have strong hands are the easiest to beat. All you have to do is wait till they are not betting and you know they have a weak hand so if you push them they will fold for fear of losing any more money on a bad hand.
Summing it all up:
The better an actor and a liar you are the easier it will be for you to fool people with your bluff. When you do decide to bluff be careful not to go overboard, bluffing is a part of poker and everyone knows it and is always on the lookout for a bluff. Good Luck and Happy Playing.
When locating and examining an online poker room or even if asked an online casino feature, Renaldo Michaels relies not just on personal experience but uses different automatic programming tools to determine the outcome of the game.

