The 5 times when a poker bluff is profitable

Continuing from my poker bluffing article last week in the poker coaching blog. I thought it would be a good idea to now describe the times when a poker bluff is effective. Poker bluffing can be lethal when used at the right times, and lets face it, there is nothing more satisfying than running a well executed poker bluff, watching as your ace high takes down a sizeable pot. So what should we be considering when we poker bluff, and what are the most effective situations to bluff at, here goes:

- To pull a successful poker bluff, image is key, if we have been playing every pot, betting all the time, people will give you less credit, and will be more inclined to call. Therefore, firstly, poker bluffing works best when we have a tight image, i.e. we havent been playing too many hands, so when we do, we must have it, right?!

- Bluffing versus one player works best, most of the time, a player doesnt connect with a flop, in fact, with any 2 cards, you only flop a pair or better 1 in 3 times. So 2 in 3 times we can assume our opponent has missed the flop. Thats why its so effective to continuation bet versus one player, you are in effect bluffing, and 2/3 of the time, you win!

- Scare cards are also great to bluff at. What do I mean by this? well, if we bet on a flop on 843, and we get one caller, lets say we have KQ so its not a great spot for us. The turn is a Ace, and we bet again, now our opponent has a very tricky decision, and he can easily fold any pair lower than an ace. So just because a scare card landed, we can win the pot with King high.

- Similar scare cards can be on flops like 567, and then an 8 lands on the turn. With 4 to a straight, our opponent will fold almost all of his hands. Similarly, if a flop comes down all hearts, and the turn is another heart, we can bet again, knowing our opponent can only call with a very big heart in his hand.

- Lastly, and unfortunately for you guys, poker bluffing becomes far more effective at higher stakes, in the low stakes games, people just dont fold, so its hard to pull off bluffs, so use my advice with caution, and dont try to bluff every single hand! That said, using my advice above, you should soon see where the good spots are.

gl at the tables, Johnny.