Texas Hold'em For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

What makes any poker game exciting, and Texas Hold’em is certainly no exception, is that players can bluff at any point. Sometimes half the fun of a game is seeing whether you can successfully bluff an opponent out of some money. But, even as you’re misleading your opponents, make sure you bluff in the right circumstances. Heed these bluffing tips:

  • Only bluff where it makes a difference to your standing — either in a tournament or to your stack of chips.

  • Be careful bluffing someone considerably worse than you are. He may call just to see what you have, or on some probabilistically low draw when he already has you beaten anyway.

  • Bluff in situations where the board hints at the great hand you do not have: straights and flushes being hinted at by the board, the turn of an Ace, and so on.

  • Don’t try to bluff players who only play the most solid of hands if they’re still in the pot.

  • Don’t bluff people who are extremely likely to call.

  • Do bluff the timid or people who are likely to fold.

  • Remember that it’s easier to bluff in No-Limit than Limit because the bets (both implied and real) are bigger.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Mark “The Red” Harlan is an avid poker player and co-creator of the first company to offer legal online poker in the United States. Along with his hours at the poker table, Mark has also spent time as a software developer for leading Silicon Valley companies.

This article can be found in the category: