Bluffing in Limit Hold'em: Mission Impossible?

We continue our discussion of bluffing in limit hold'em by examining the following issues:

• Balancing your play
• Being prepared
• Knowing your image
• Psychological factors (embarrassment, discouragement)

As a reminder, the previous discussion in Part I is available online at www.CardPlayer.com.

Balancing your play: One of the most important factors in bluffing is credibility. Too many players deny themselves this credibility because of the way they play when they are not bluffing.

Let's say you are out of position in a heads-up pot and a flush card hits on the turn. You want to bluff by representing that you made the flush. The easiest way to do this is by betting when you had been checking. You hope this new aggressive action convinces your opponent that you now have a made hand that he will not be able to beat, and he will have to put in two more big bets just to find out.

Normally, this would be a good bluff, but only if you are the kind of player who would in fact bet here when you do make a flush. If you are one of the legions who check here, hoping to check-raise, betting will not convince anyone who's observant to fold.

Furthermore, if you checked the flop, but you are a player who likes to bet when you flop a flush draw, better opponents will realize that you did not make your flush because you checked the flop.

Does this mean you should always check the flop and bet the turn when you make your flush if you want to bluff successfully? No, it does not. But it does mean that you must do so at least a significant percentage of the time, so that your bluff attempt will appear authentic.

This is where the balance comes in. Successful bluffing requires that your bluff mimic a play you will make much of the time, while successful play requires that you vary your play. If your (competent) opponents have not seen you act consistently with the hand you are representing, do not bluff.

Being prepared: It is poor practice to think for a long time, realize that you may have a bluffing opportunity, and then attempt to execute a bluff. Your opponent will generally become suspicious and wonder what is taking you so long. It is far better to make your play in your normal tempo, which means that you need to be able to recognize such opportunities before they arise.

This preparation comes from two areas:

• Thinking about players and situations away from the table, so that when the magic moment arrives, you are ready, and
• Planning your future actions during a hand, so that you know you will bluff if a certain card comes on the next street.

For example, you are heads up in position against a good, aggressive player who is capable of making tough laydowns. You open-raised from the cutoff with the 10 9, and he called from the blind. He bet out on a flop of A 8 7 and you elected to call rather than risk facing a three-bet. The 2 hit the turn and you called his bet again.

Heads up, this player will likely bet the river even if a scary card comes. Clearly, you will raise if you make your straight, but what if a flush card comes? If you bluff-raise here, it is consistent with your play on all streets if you had held, say, the Q J? If your opponent believes you, he may fold, but you must decide this course of action before the diamond comes. Your river bluff-raise must be in the same tempo as if you actually made your hand.

Knowing your image: For dozens of excellent poker reasons, you must always be aware of your image at the table. Bluffing is one of the most important reasons.

To bluff successfully, you must have a fairly tight image and have shown down a succession of winners. Do not bluff unless you have established this image. Never bluff if you have lost several hands in a row. Never bluff if the last hand you showed down was a bluff. Never bluff if you have raised and later folded some hands. Even if you have done so with excellent reasons, you look weak or loose to opponents.

Last impressions are critical at the poker table. Regardless of how you think you are playing, your most recent few hands are paramount in the minds of your opponents. Stay aware of your image at all times, and bluff only when you have earned an image of a player who has the goods.

Psychological factors (embarrassment, discouragement): Some players, probably due to proper upbringing, find it hard to escape the feeling that bluffing is somehow unethical. They rarely try, and if they do get caught bluffing, they feel just like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Opponents can heighten their embarrassment with lighthearted comments like, "Were you trying to steal my pot?"

Bluffing is part of the game. It is not theft, any more than a baseball pitcher who mixes up a fastball with a curve is stealing from the hitter. If you are ashamed to bluff, you will have a very hard time beating anyone except the most oblivious players.
More prevalent is the feeling of discouragement that players have when they bluff and lose. First, this costs them money, and they kick themselves for trying. Second, this feeling that bluffing is doomed to failure keeps them from bluffing even when it might work (I discussed this concept in more detail in my column, "Bluffing When You Don't Feel Like It," Card Player, Vol. 16/No. 16).

Unfortunately, in limit hold'em, most of your bluffs will fail. Your opponents are getting decent pot odds to call, and they often will. On the other hand, you typically are getting an excellent price to succeed, and you do not need to do so often to show a good profit. If a pot has 10 bets in it, and you feel circumstances may favor a bluff, you need to win more often than only 10 percent of the time.

Discouragement comes when you bluff in this circumstance five or six times (over several sessions) and lose every time. Now it may seem like a hopeless task, and you give up trying. This is the worst possible case, as you have lost several bets, and now cannot win them back when your bluff would be successful. As hard as it is, in bluffing (and many other parts of poker), perseverance is critical to making a profit.

Next issue, we will start looking at favorable and unfavorable bluffing situations street by street.

Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies, both available at www.CardPlayer.com. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at [email protected].