Bluffing is one of those poker topics that we will be coming back to often. Bluffing is the simpliest complex play in poker. If you bet into a pot with what you are convinced is not the winning (or leading) hand, you are bluffing. Sure you could be on a draw with four cards to a flush or a straight and that is often called a semi-bluff. But a pure bluff is when you bet without the winning hand.

The obvious question is: Why Bluff? And while there are several complex answers to that question, there is also a very simple one.

You cannot and will not be a successful poker player, you will not be a winning poker player, if you do not win hands with bluffs. The simple math is that we are not dealt enough high quality hands to beat nine other poker players straight-up based on just the cards. The reason poker hands are not dealt face-up like blackjack is because there are interpersonal skills involved in winning at poker. Bluffing is one of those skills.

So, how do you learn to bluff? Again a simple answer, just do it! Pick a hand where you are in late position at first and raise the pot pre-flop with any two cards. Then bet the flop not matter what cards are in the flop [OK, if your raise with 24o and the flop is Ah, Kh, Qh; you can call off the practice bluff]. Learning to bluff means not only making the play but also having the experience of raking in a pot while you muck two absolutely worthless cards. You have to do it to learn to bluff.

More bluffing lessons to follow.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #39

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Poker Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.