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Server Time: 5/16/2012 9:59:36 PM PACIFIC |
 Bluffing in NL tourneys, LKP, 20. Dec 2003 00:50 | ||
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| I think bluffing is a powerful tool in NL tourneys, one which, I would argue, almost HAS to be utilized to do well on a consistent basis. Without it, you are truly at the mercy of your cards and not your skill. What are some tips/strategies/techniques/thoughts you guys have for bluffing? I would really be interested in getting some conversation going on this and seeing how I could possibly become better at this important skill. (note: I am not obsessed with bluffing to the point that I neglect other areas of my game - this is just an area where I want to improve.) Here are some of the thoughts I have: 1. Table image. Craft a tight table image from the beginning. This is pretty easy, considering that's the way you should be playing at the beginning anyway. This goes with #2. 2. Wait for larger blinds. There's no use bluffing on piddly little pots in the beginning since, in my opinion, it will be detrimental to your ability to bluff later on when the blinds are higher and the pots are worth bluffing at. 3. Don't make your bluffs consistently sized. I know some players who always bet the pot exactly when they bluff. Then they'll turn around and bet a non-pot sized amount only when they actually have a good hand. There are so few tells possible online that you don't want to give any information away. 4. Fire a second bullet. If a close-to-pot-sized bet gets called by one person, if you think they are weak, fire a second bullet. Bet out another close-to-pot-sized bet. Most of the time, this second bet will drive them away. However, the key is you must know they are weak, which brings us to our next point. 5. Be wary of those who take a long time to think and then just call. Poorer players try to act strong when they're weak and weak when they're strong. When someone goes out of their way to think for a long time and then just call, be worried. They may still be just thinking for a long time, so then you have to know your player. But it is definitely a situation that should indicated probable strength rather than probable weakness. 6. Pay attention to what positions you bluff at. People will be expecting you to bluff from late position. When you're on the button and 4 callers just check to you, you have to realize your bluff may be a little more transparent than it would be if you were the second one to act. Also be careful about bluffing on the BB preflop. Many people will suspect that as well. Well that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Any more thoughts from anyone? | ||
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| Re: Bluffing in NL tourneys, Flatout_Mainiac, 20. Dec 2003 09:21 | ||
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| This is a very good topic because in my opinion bluffing is a skill that take a long time to master. I like your thoughts as you hit on a number of things I think about before I fire my barrels on a bluffs. I avoid pure bluffing in multiway pots as someone is always going to play the cop. I like the EP bluff in NL especially if I showed any type of strength PF and it looks like the flop missed everyone. People already got me on an overpair or a made hand I'm protected, I might as well play the role. I also like to bluff (I guess this is more of a semi-bluff?) into scare cards especially if i'm caught in a tourney calling down top pair/not so great kicker. For example, last night I check my option with A9o the flop hits the aces with 2 suited. I bet/call small reraise flop, check call turn and go all in on the river heads up when the 3 suit hit. He commented on the nice river....lol!!! But anyway, I only try to bluff hands I can represent. | ||
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| Re: Bluffing in NL tourneys, palman, 20. Dec 2003 12:42 | ||
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| The last comment he made is the best advice I heard..... In order for a bluff to work you need to represent the hand the entire time. If a board comes 10 4 4 and you're in the BB and want to represent the four, you arent just going to throw a pot sized bet out there. Or most won't (I've been experimenting with doing just that as of late.... but I haven't had good luck in trapping people yet =) ) Most will play the hand check-call check-raise. So Always think when you want to bluff "how would I play it if I actually had it" and that helps. I had a huge run in the SnG's when I started making all of my bluffs basically check-raises. I wasn't making a lot of position bets or early position strong bet outs. I think one of the main reasons is people don't respect position bets, so often people try to bluff them. People also try and bluff early position players alot. However not many people think you can bluff a check-raiser. So the only way it doesnt work is if they actually have the goods. Also people usually will fold a better hand to a check-raise than they would to an early position bet on a weak flop or a position bet. The problem with the check-raise bluff is that it usually costs a lot more chips in order to do it, and sometimes people make a bet of a certain size that you just can't do it (either they go all in) or its large enough so that in order for you to bluff you have to commit too much of your stack. I used it most effectively early in SnG's when say 3 people limp into the hand, the pot is 150, and I have top pair weak kicker in the blind. If I bet out and someone behind me calls.... you're screwed the rest of the hand essentially. However, the check raise makes it simple, if it doesnt work you can get away from it, or bet them out more effectively on the turn. | ||
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| Re: Bluffing in NL tourneys - more thoughts, LKP, 21. Dec 2003 13:37 | ||
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| Some more thoughts as I played a little in the past few days. 1. Try to look for those who are drawing. In lower skilled games, a rather quick call when the board has two suits is usually indicative of a flush draw. I bluff these people by betting out fairly strongly each round. I sometimes do this stone-cold. First, if the third suit hits, run. Secondly, don't necessarily worry if they call your bets all the way until the river. A lot of poorer players will call moderately sized bets, especially if the pot is three way (although I wouldn't recommend trying to bluff when it's still a 4 way pot after your first bullet) all the way until the river flops out and they don't get their draw. Not only have you done exactly what was talked about by Flatout Maniac and represented a hand, but they obviously didn't get theirs. This is an incredibly lucrative bluff since the pot will be fairly decently sized by the time they fold. This is a time when you must consider their stack size and table image. If they are short stacked and wild, they're not gonna fold on the river even if they miss their draw when they have 2 bucks left and the pot is 25 bucks. On the other hand, especially tight players probably wouldn't call large bets on a draw, so maybe the river bullet is best left unfired. | ||
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