Author: horse-racing-free-tips

Some players have the automated reaction to bluff frequently, and that is not recommended. They should just pay attention to the table ad maybe even feel it a little bit before they decide to bluff. Keep in mind that the other players are probably looking themselves for an occasion to bluff. You can tell sometimes when they are bluffing, and the same way they can tell it too sometimes when you are tring to bluff. It does work when nobody notices, but if they do it will only cost you money. So, use it wisely and only after you get some experience.

For reference and help, take a look at these situations when you must not, under any circumstances, bluff.

1.When it is obvious that you will.

If the players know you and know your stille, they can tell when you are bluffing in some situations. Don’t make this mistake because you would give them free money this way.

2.When you just bluffed and they caught you.

If you are already labeled by the rest of the players as a poor bluffer, you should let them forget about that and only then try it again, hoping this time you can do it right.

3.When you are faced with a dangerous flop.

Look carefully at the flop. if there is an Ace in it, consider the afact that someone might have a pair of aces. Aces make it beyond the pre-flop and player usually stick to them and most likely they will paly them. So, don’t bluff when faced to them. Also, don’t bluff against something that might stick to a straight, like: Q, J, 8. Maybe someone has the missing parts.

4.When you are playing against many players.

The manyer you are, the greater are the odds that a player has something and that he will stick with his cards. If you bluff, that palyer will win and you will lose a lot more. Statistic and odds forbit bluffing in this situation.

5.When you are clearly playing against bad players
Bad players don’t realize the opportunity bluffing gives. They like to keep it honest, they don’t fear hands. And bluffing is only effective when it goes hand to hand with fear, fear of loosing the hand or fear of loosing a tournament or just the money.

6.When you have a streak of lost hands going on, or just one hand, but a big one.

You might be upset, and you are espected to be, you might act irresponsibly then and others know that. They will call you no matter what you do, because they know they are big chances that you are bluffing.

7.When you have limped in or you are situated in one of the bind positions.

Can’t explain why, but generally the people from blind position are expected to have a poor hand. And since they already made that blind bid, they are espected to go on, therefore bluff, even if the hand is poor. So, don’t bluff, others think you will and will call you in this situatiuation also.

What is semi-bluffing? Generally, you are semi-bluffing when the cards dealt previously to you are not so great, but the odds are that they can really improve. If you are playing against palyers that have nothing, it should function just as if you were bluffing. But if your opponents have something, then semi-bluffing is a latent, hidden form of attack. Semi-bluffing should be used throuthfully as it is a powerfull tool. If the cards will come to you then it will lead to a great hand. But if they don’t, semi-bluffing can make you lose lots of money, so use it usely.

In texas hold’em semi-bluffing is preferred to bluffing because players usually can tell when you are bluffing. You must use it against lots of players rather than against just a few, the odds are in your favor this way. Also, semi-bluff when you are in late position, maybe on the flop and always against poor, unexpirienced players.

Let’s look at an actual stiation that will be commented upon for a better understanding.

Situation: You have a Ace of hearts and a Ten of hearts.

There are six players and in the pre-flop each of them betted twice. When the flop is dealt, you can see the following cards: Jack of hearts, Queen of Diamond, Eight of hearts.

You are positioned in the middle so you want to try semi-bluffing. You have great chances accually. If any heart card or any king appears you will have a hand. So, you are confronted now with multiple draws. You have to think what would be best in this situation. If you get a heart then you should have a flush, but then again if a king arises you will have a straight. The King of hearts is probably in some one’s hand so don’t think about that. If the queen of heart might appear it can be dangerous, because it could also be used for someone’s full house. So, best solution is to get the King, probably a non-hearts King.

Because either a flush or a straight can makyour hand the winning one, then we must think that you have twelve outs, with the king of hearts that we decided is already dealt probably but counting this card only once even though it fits both categories. Calculating the odds, you stand a chance of 25% to get the card you need. So, you can raise or check here. If let’s say you miss this one, there is a good chance if the players are folding that you still win and you can continue betting.

This can not be better illustrated than through an example and that is exactly what is going to be done here.

Let’s say you are playing online hold’em and you have a hand of 8, 9 suited in a game with the small blind of $3 and the big blind of $6. Then you call the raise that came from one player and all the other players do that also. There are six players in total in the poker room. So the pot added up to $36 or more from now.

In the flop, the cards you can see are Js , 7h, and 4h.

Now, a difficult decision lies ahead of you. Once you have seen the flop you realize that you have a gutshot to a nuts straight because you are now missing only a 10 from hitting that hand. The idea is to decide whether it is worth it to draw for the nuts or not.

The player in first position bets and the following two players that are stitted before you call. So the pot became somewhere around $45. if you are looking after that gutshot straight then you have to consider the fact that it has 4 outs that are the card you are missing, the 10 in this example. 4 cards out of the total of 47 cards left in the deck. So odds are 4:47. On the river the cards in the deck decrease by one so the odds become 4:46. Simplifying, it turns out that to hit the straight on the turn you have 1:11 chances. The pot odds are in your favor because you now have to call $3 for the amount of $45 accumulated so far.

On the turn, the following cards are placed on the table: 6s, 4h, 7h, Js. This means that you have now the chance to draw to 2 straights and you are hoping for either one of the following cards: a five or a ten. The outs just became 9 for you hand and the odds just improved on your side. Now your odds of hitting the draw are doubled because there are eight outs. And, in addition to that in this case you have the chance of hitting a different hand also, a flush and for that you need any spade card. For the flush there are 9 outs. There is a five of spades and a 10 of spades that are already counted as outs, so they will not be counted again. This basically means that your odds to improve the hand are 9+4:46, meaning 15:46 or about 33% for your draw to hit. This is a pretty good percent and even if the ones situated in front of you bet or raise, you can still get a good pot odd also.

It is crucial for you to learn over time to instantly calculate pot and implied odds both. You have always to calculate you pot odds, based on what is situated now on the table, and then try and think about future bets and recalculate the pod and its odds, this way you get to the true meaning of implied odds.