Bluffing is a controversial strategy that can be very effective for some players, but not for others. It is important to understand the different types of players and how they choose their cards in order to make adjustments to your game play. Once you understand this, you will be able to formulate a counter strategy to their bluffs. Here are some of the times, when you should bluff in poker and when you should not:
- Early in the event:
If you are holding a hand such as AA, AK, KK, QQ, JJ, etc, and other players are raising in the first four or five positions, you may want to bluff and try to steal the blinds. It is best to be aggressive with this move; people are more likely to assume you have the best hand when you play in early position.
- Middle positions:
If you are holding middle pairs such as 20-22, 22-25, 25-26, 26-30, 30-32, you can consider bluffing against lower pairs or weak drawing hands. With these hands, you are hoping other players with better hands will call your bluff.
- Cut off and Button:
If you are on the button, you have the advantage of being last to act on every round. If no one has acted after you, this is a good time to bluff. If you act before a scare card is played, your opponents are more likely to fold to you.
- Small Blind and Big Blind:
If you are in the small blind and there has been a raise, you should probably bluff even if you have a mediocre hand. The best time to bluff is when a player in front of you has checked to you. You can exploit a late position raise to take down the pot.
- Blinds at the cutoff:
With blinds at cutoff points, you should bluff more than other times. Players tend to be very tight in these positions, and there is an expectation that no one has made a big blind raise. Use this small blind space to throw some chips around.
- Big Blind:
If you have a big blind raise in front of you, you should consider re-raising if you believe your opponents have a good hand. The purpose of this raise is to isolate the play between big blind and small blind. If you try to bully the players with the big stack, you are asking for trouble. If you succeed in forcing the small blind to fold, you may have a chance of winning the blinds.
- Unraised blinds:
The blinds are considered to the worst place to play from the button. This is a bad spot to be in because of the increased number of players limping into the pot. If you have a hand like ace – nine and there are no raises in front of you, consider raising even if the action to you is call. You can still assess the strength of your hand in the blinds, and you can evaluate if you are dominating the pot.
- Opponent calls on the button:
Try to avoid button raises with second or bottom pair. The impression of your opponents in the button is that they have something so try to avoid raises there.
- Odds help to judge hand:
Don’t call a bet that is totally unlikely to be the best hand in mega88. Even if you have a hand better than a two-pair, consider folding pre-flop.
- Flop not overproach:
Digest the information from the flop and consider the next several streets. If the flop is encouraging, you should consider staying in but only if you have nothing better than top pair. If you have the best hand, it is best to cut your losses and fold.
- Pay attention to the prices:
Hand vs. hand. The odds are important in deciding whether you should continue to play a hand or not. Remember that you have outs (the cards you can make next) if you are against one other player. The most important thing in this situation is knowing what the odds are that you will hit your hand.
- Take risks:
Since you cannot guarantee that you will win every time, you should take some risks. You can try a big raise to push out other players, you can call to make a smaller bet, you can even bet with nothing. The risks you take will determine the pots that you win. Make sure that the pots you win are big ones.
- Don’t give up:
Big stacks (greater than 50 BB) will win very easily against yellows and little stacks (less than 10 BBs) will be easier to beat. Therefore, you should not be afraid to take risks. When you have a big stack, you are certain that you will win.