The Five Worst Bluffs In Poker

In big bet poker, bluffing is as much a part of the game as learning to shuffle your chips, perhaps even moreso. For some players, it seems that running a successful bluff is even more important than accumulating chips, and some players are just plain better at it than others. Whether your bluffs are sending chips your way or theirs has to do with timing, reads, table image, and the game you are in, but all of these factors being equal, some bluffs still work better than others. Today, I'm going to talk about bluffs that don't generally work, and are usually bad habits to get into. If you can "remove" these bluffs from your repertoire, you should put more money in your bankroll and enhance your image at the table. Here are the Five Worst Bluffs in Poker.

1. All-In Against a Pot-Committed Short Stack

I see this time and again, and it is simply a matter of not paying attention. You are up against a stack that is significantly smaller than yours, and after three rounds of betting that finds you both substantially invested in the pot, you go all-in on the river with next to nothing. You figure that he's not going to risk going broke to call you, but what you failed to notice is that he only has a few chips in front of him in comparison to the chips in the pot. If he's got anything, he's going to call you. He might not be happy about it, but he will call, and your attempt to scare him will result in him stacking even more of your chips.

In this situation, you will need to make your bluff before your opponent has committed himself to the pot. How do you know when such is the case? Well, generally, if a player has more of his chips in the pot than in his stack, then he is more or less pot committed, and it will be very hard for him to fold his hand. In a tournament, your opponent is also pot-committed when he believes that folding will leave him with so few chips that he won't have much of a chance in the tournament anyway. He probably should have pushed them in already, but even if he hasn't done so, you will have a hard time getting him to fold here. Don't get greedy. Check it down, and if he bets, then make a decision based on the value of your hand. Don't try to bluff someone who is mathematically obligated to call you.

2. Bluffing a Much Larger Stack

The unwritten rule in poker is that the big stacks push around the smaller stacks. The rule matters less in cash games, where players can rebuy when they've gone broke, but it is still there. Don't try to buck this rule. If you have only about forty bucks in front of you, and are up against an opponent with more than three hundred on the table, don't push in hoping for a fold. If he's got any kind of hand, even a draw, he's going to call you. He's surely thinking, "well, the most I'm going to lose is forty bucks, so I might as well gamble." If you're in a tournament, there is also the benefit of eliminating another player if he wins, so in this situation he is even more likely to call.

There is nothing wrong with pushing in when you are short-stacked. In fact it is really the only thing you can do when you're nearly down to the felt. Just be sure that you've got a hand that you're comfortable turning over, because you probably will be called, especially by one of the big stacks.

3. The Minimum Raise

This bluff does work sometimes, but only at the highest limits. For low-limit NL and PL games, it is usual an automatic call for your opponent. Even if he is bluffing himself, he will often call you just to avoid getting the reputation as a scared player. If he bets $30, he doesn't want to run screaming if you only make it $30 more.

When you check and somebody behind you bets, and you think that he's bluffing, the check-raise bluff is a good one to use here. The pot is still relatively small, so your opponent will be able to get away from it, and your raise will signify that you have at least two pair on the flop. But instead of raising the minimum, make it three to four times his bet. Make him call a lot more to save face and to see the next card. More often than not, you will get a sly smile, a "just kidding," and a few more chips in your stack.

4. The Tiny Pot Steal

This is a situation that happens a couple of times an hour in both cash games and tournaments. At least three or four players find themselves in an unraised pot, and the flops seems to miss them all. The bet is checked around, the turn card comes, and the betting is again checked around. It is tempting to toss in a pot-sized bet, hoping to take down a small pot that nobody is interested in, but it doesn't usually work, and when it does, the reward is not really worth the price.

This is especially true when you keep doing it. Ordinarily, players with second pair and a weak kicker, or third pair and any kicker won't think that their hand is best against three or four other players. But if it has been checked around, and then someone puts in a bet, he's going to be suspicious that the bettor is on a steal. He'll be even more suspicious if the bettor ALWAYS bets in this situation, and he'll call or raise in response. Don't be that bettor. If you believe you have the best hand, bet. If you don't, then you are better off continuing to check it around. The small pots are really not worth your trouble.

5. The PreFlop Overbet

You see this much more online than you do in live games, and I think the reason is that in a live game, you might actually get laughed at. You are playing $2-5 No Limit, and the usual preflop raise is to between twenty and twenty-five dollars. You get bored and decide to raise with A-4 offsuit. But since you don't particularly want to be called with this hand, you make it $75 to go. Nine times out of ten you're going to take down this pot with no trouble, but every once in awhile somebody will call you down, and you can be assured that he will have a much better hand. And you will be left with two unhappy choices: You can risk a whole lot more chips in an attempt to bluff your way to the pot, or you can achieve the embarrassing task of folding on the flop after raising fifteen times the big blind preflop.

Although bluffing involves risk - hell, so does poker in general - you can do a lot to minimize that risk you are taking against the reward available. Putting in a huge amount preflop just to take down the blinds and a few limpers just isn't worth it, especially more than once a session. If you want to raise with A-4 offsuit, go right ahead. But do it in position, put in the normal raise, and take down the pot after the flop, if your opponent looks weak. Otherwise, you are risking a Lexus to win a bicycle, and that is not good poker.

Next month we'll discuss the Five Best Bluffs in Poker. Until then, good luck at the tables.

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