There is quite a lot to bluffing, and i wont cover all it here. But this should give you a guide of when to bluff and more importantly when not to bluff.
Nothing feels better then getting away with a nice sneaky bluff, but at the same time nothing feels worse then getting called with absolutely nothing and looking like a monster fish. So here are a few common mistakes people make that you can incorporate into your game straight away.
1. As a rule if your going to bluff do it on the flop or the turn. If the person doesn't have anything the last thing you want to do is give them two more cards to help them catch a hand before bluffing. That's not to say you cant bluff on the river, but if you think they have nothing on the flop try to take the hand down as soon as possible.
2. Don't bluff a pot with straight and flush draws on the board. What ends up happening is you raise trying to bluff, then they call with nothing trying to hit their flush. Most players then back off because they think they have been caught stealing, while in fact they may have nothing as well. If you do decide to bluff with draws on the table, don't forget to throw a bet out on the river if it looks like nothing has hit. A lot of times people will call huge raises chasing there cards, yet once they miss on the river they will fold to a very small bet. So just throw something out there and u might still get the pot.
3. Don't bluff a pot with 4 or more people in the hand. You'll get away with it sometimes but in the end the chances are someone either has something okay that they will call with, or you're going to run into someone slow playing something big.
4. If you bet pre flop and miss don't be afraid to throw out a decent sized bet. In this situation when someone checks the flop they are basically giving you the hand, once in a while you'll get check raised and will have to fold but the majority of the time you will take down the pot. If this conflicts with rule 3 then no bluffing.
There are so many more tricks to bluffing, but 4 will have to do for now. I hope they help your game at least a little. And if anyone is reading this and wants to say hello my alias on everest poker is jazzypants, don't be shy.
Good Luck, and remember no bluffing Jazzypants if you bump into him.
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