Bluff (poker)

In poker, to bluff is to bet or raise the betting aggressively while holding a poker hand that is likely to be inferior, hoping that all other poker players will fold and award you the pot without a showdown. (Occasionally, "bluff" in poker is used in a broader sense to refer to representing any poker hand that is different from what the poker player actually has, whether that poker hand is stronger or weaker. This article discusses the usual sense of representing a stronger poker hand while holding a hopeless one.)

In poker bluff games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior poker hand that might become a much better one by chance in a later round is often called a semi-bluff. For example, a poker player in a stud poker bluff game with four spade-suited cards showing (but none among his down cards) on the penultimate round might raise, hoping that others believe he has a flush even though he does not. If his bluff fails and he is called, he still might be dealt a spade on the final card and win the showdown (or he might be dealt another non-spade and try his bluff again, in which case it is a pure bluff on the final round rather than a semi-bluff).

The bluff is an important part of the strategy of any poker bluff game, though it will come into poker play more in some poker bluff games than in others. For example, bluffs are much stronger in pot-limit and no-limit poker bluff games, because your opponent will have worse pot odds, in addition to the threat of larger bets in future betting rounds if there are any. Bluffing is also uncommon in Omaha, because it's often likely that if you don't have the poker hand you represent, your opponent does.

Strategy

Do not be predictable. If you always bluff in certain situations, your opponents will figure this out and start calling more. If you never bluff, they will figure that out too and stop calling your non-bluff bets, which is a bad thing—even though you might win the poker hand, you will fail to win the amount of their call. The exact ideal bluffing frequency in each poker bluff game situation is a complicated exercise in poker bluff game theory that you will not be able to solve at the table, so you may have to rely on rules of thumb, prior analysis, experience, and intuition. It also helps to have a randomizing device: for example, if your analysis or experience leads you to believe that you should bluff half of the time in a certain situation, use a device such as the color of the last card dealt, or the second poker hand on your watch, to make the choice.

Bluffs are more successful with fewer people in the pot. Against only one or two opponents, your chances are good that no one has a poker hand good enough to call. Against three or more opponents, at least one of them probably does, so bluffing is unlikely to succeed. There is also social pressure to "poker play sheriff": if three people act behind you, and the first two fold to your bluff, the last poker player will feel more obligated to call because the others will complain if he does not. If you have only one opponent, he will not have that problem.

Bluff much less in high-low split poker bluff games—some very weak poker hands will call hoping for half the pot. In some poker bluff games such as Omaha high-low, you would not be giving up much advantage if you never bluffed at all.

Opponents will call or fold to a bluff based on their own poker hands more than based on their perception of yours (even though this is not correct strategy). For example, if you are poker playing seven-card stud and are dealt an upcard that makes it look as though you may have a flush (or some other "scare card"), bluffing against someone who you think has three of a kind will likely fail, because that is a strong poker hand for the poker bluff game and a poker player is unlikely to fold it even if he suspects it will not win. But bluffing against someone who probably has only a small pair is more likely to be successful, even if you have nothing that looks threatening about your own cards.

In poker bluff games with many betting rounds, bluff in early rounds rather than late ones. Once other poker players have put a lot of money into the pot, they are less likely to give up (this tendency goes beyond the correct strategy of calling more with larger pots). One good poker play in such poker bluff games is to "semi-bluff": betting a poker hand in an early round that probably is not the best, but that might become the best with a lucky future card. This poker play can win when either the bluff or the draw is successful.

On the last betting round, if you have a poker hand that might be good but that is not very strong, you are probably better off checking and then calling a bet by your opponent rather than bluffing. A poker player bluff with a worse poker hand will probably not call if you bet, but your check might induce him to bluff, allowing your call to win more money. A poker player with a better poker hand than yours will almost certainly call, and may raise to bluff in the poker bluff game. You also do not need the protection of a bet. Value bet your strong poker hands, bluff with poker hands you are almost sure cannot win any other way, and check the ones in between.

A raise, and especially a check-raise, as a bluff is more psychologically intimidating than just opening. Of course it also risks more of your money and makes the pot bigger (and therefore more likely to be called), so it must be used with care in poker bluff games that someone wants to bluff their hand.