Pulling A Stunt In Poker

Bluffing is a necessary evil in tournament poker. The need to win some pots when you don't have the cards makes bluffing a requirement to winning events. Below are a couple of types of bluffs.

The bluffs you might see can be as ordinary as an attempt to steal the blinds, to very complex schemes. You're behind or have no cards, but you want those chips. You need to get a fold.

One of the easiest bluffs to run is stealing the blinds. You raise with a weak hand hoping everyone folds. You should be the first to act in this bluff. Short stacks will push all in to make this steal. Bigger stacks can push the small stacks around by constantly stealing the blinds.

Another bluff is the check raise bluff. Let's say you are the big blind. You call a raise from the button with 78 of diamonds the flop comes AJ4 no diamonds.

You check to your opponent, who makes a strong raise. You then re-raise, a large amount. Unless he has a monster, he will usually fold.

The semi-bluff is a little different. You have KQ of hearts. You call a raise from middle position from the big blind.

The flop shows J74 with two hearts. When your opponent raises you have to decide how to play this. I think here you can go all in, and put your opponent to the test.

You might get a fold. If he calls you have outs, at least nine of them. If he has AJ you will be a mathematical favorite. This is a classic semi-bluff.

Here's a different type of bluff. You are on an open ended straight draw and have called a raise on the flop and the turn. You are first to act and the only chance to win the pot is to get a fold. Your opponent has raised twice so this is tricky, he might be very strong.

Now you make a small raise. This is designed to confuse your opponent into thinking you have been slow playing a big hand. This looks like a value bet that is begging for a call. This play requires your opponent to understand that the bet represents a strong hand that you have been disguising.

This is just a small sample of the types of plays that you need to use to keep building your stack. If you want to go deep in tournaments, you need to bluff. You must make moves like these to make chips with weak cards.

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