Most of us don't like to risk huge amounts of money on a bluff, at least, not until we train ourselves to. True, there are some of us who appear to have the 'gambling gene' and love to risk money on a bluff, but for many of us, triple barrel bluffing is not a tool we use frequently, if ever.
The value of a bluff depends on when it is made. Poker players cannot bluff just for the fun of it; they need to study the gaming situation and analyse it well before they can make a bluff that truly works. The following is a short bluffer's guide to Texas Hold'em Poker. Never bluff when there are too many players around. Part of Texas Hold'em For Dummies Cheat Sheet. 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. A semi-bluff is when you bluff, but you still have a chance of improving to make the best hand on future cards. For example, raising with A 4 on a flop of K Q 2 would be classed as a semi-bluff. It's unlikely that you have the best hand right now (making it a bluff), but a diamond on the turn or the river would give you a flush and the best.
This is not to say it can't be a strong tool,in fact it can be very powerful. Even holdings as strong as top-pair-top-kicker can give us a really hard time when facing a 3-barrel from an average unknown. The truth is, most players are simply never bluffing like this, and usually not value-betting worse than our holding either.Dealing with a 3-barrel is a topic for another day – right now we are interested in how we can reverse the scenario and be the one putting pressure on our opponents.
Bluffing is Correct
Before we go into any specifics, it's useful to know that triple barrel bluffing is a theoretically correct part of poker strategy.
How frequently we should bluff is usually related to the bet-sizing we use. In general the larger we bet on the river, the more frequently it is correct to bluff. It's very simple to calculate theoretical value:bluff ratio by simply looking at the pot-odds our opponent is getting on the river.
So assuming we bet pot-size on the river our opponent will be getting 2:1 or 33% on a call. He needs to be good 33% of the time, so we should be bluffing about 33%. Assuming we bluff less than this he is theoretically able to fold all of his bluff-catchers, while if we bluff more than this he can call all his bluffcatchers. Betting exactly 33%, keeps him indifferent to calling or folding.The majority of opponents will be bluffing more like 5-10% when they fire the third barrel. This means we can exploit them by making big laydowns and giving them huge credit when they triple.
5 Pointers for Triple Barrel Bluffs
So how do we know when it's a good situation to fire that third barrel? There are 5 things we should be looking out for.
1. Opponent folds too much to River Cbets
Admittedly we are not going to have the luxury of having a big sample size of hands on river situations for the most part. In some cases we will pick up enough of a sample to recognize that our opponent is folding too much on the river. Assuming we make a 2/3rds pot sized bet, if our opponent is folding over 40% of the time, we are actually generating automatic profit. By the time our opponent is folding over 60% to river cbets we should typically be firing any air holding we reach the river with.
2. No Showdown Value
The best hands for river bluffs are those which have zero shot of ever winning at showdown. If a hand has even a small chance of winning at showdown then the EV of checking will be above zero. This means that our bluff doesn't just need to be profitable in order to be correct. The EV of our bluff needs to be higher than the EV of checking in order for it to be the best choice.The more showdown value we have, the higher the EV of a check, and the less likely our holding is to be a consideration for a 3-barrel bluff.Depending on our opponent, even some relatively strong hands may have a higher expectation as a bluff than a check. This is why we occasionally see professional players turning hands as strong as top pair into a bluff. From an exploitative point of view we can bluff anything so long as we feel the EV of bluffing is higher than that of checking.
From a theoretical point of view though, it would be incorrect to bluff with everything, because then we'd be bluffing the river too frequently, which is something an adept opponent might be able to exploit. So seeing as we can't fire every time as a bluff when following a balanced strategy, it makes sense to check the hands that have the highest expectation as checks, and then bluff the hands that have a low or zero expectation as checks.3. Blockers
In many cases blockers are over-rated. Many situations are simply not close enough that the blockers actually make a difference. The stronger our opponent is the more relevant this particular facet of our 3-barrel bluffing strategy becomes.
The idea is that we can learn a little about the potential fold-equity we have by considering our own holdings. Imagine we are triple barrel bluffing on a board texture where a heart draw completed on the river. It's usually beneficial if we hold something like the Ace of Hearts. Naturally when we bluff on a texture where a flush completes we are a little concerned our opponent is going to snap call and turn over the flush. By holding one of those flush cards ourselves, especially the Ace, we reduce the likelihood our opponent has that flush. We can say that we have 'good blockers' and expect to generate more fold equity as a result.It works in the opposite way too. If we imagine a board runout where a heart flush-draw was possible, but the turn and river bricked off – do we prefer to hold a heart in our hand or not? In this case we prefer not to hold the heart. It means our opponent will have a larger amount of busted heart draws in his range which he can be folding the river with.
4. Capped Range
3barreling as a bluff is always more profitable when we can infer that our opponent might be capped. By 'capped' we mean that there is a limit to how strong he can be as a result of the line he has taken. For example our opponent decides to call us down on a..
T9542 texture.
He is usually capped. This is because if he has any holding 2pair or stronger he is likely to raise one of our cbets. It's dangerous for him to give us free cards on such a drawy runout assuming he is holding a monster. As such he is usually capped to Tx holdings (i.e Tx is his strongest hand), and his range also contains a number of busted straight and flush draws. Bluffing will often be extra profitable in this scenario.
He is usually capped. This is because if he has any holding 2pair or stronger he is likely to raise one of our cbets. It's dangerous for him to give us free cards on such a drawy runout assuming he is holding a monster. As such he is usually capped to Tx holdings (i.e Tx is his strongest hand), and his range also contains a number of busted straight and flush draws. Bluffing will often be extra profitable in this scenario.
5. Barrel the Turn with Equity
Bluffing the river with the right range can be a delicate balance. If we get to the river with a bad range in the first place: there will often be nothing we can do to fully rectify the situation.It's important that we are selective about the type of hands we semi-bluff the turn with.
If we bluff the turn too frequently, our river range will be too wide and we will be forced to bluff too frequently (or check/fold a bunch of weak holdings).If we never bluff the turn and only value-bet, our river range will be far too strong, and a good opponent will simply be able to fold any mid-strength holding every single time we 3-barrel.
Putting it Together
The best recommendation is to simply put ourselves in a position where we try out some three-barrel bluffs. It can be daunting at first, but it shouldn't be a big deal to us if we end up losing money, so long as we learn something in the process. This is essentially one of the ways poker players 'pay' for their education. They make mistakes which cost them money, but then learn from these mistakes, resulting in a stronger strategy which makes back the lost money and more.
Another tactic we can use when trying out a new line for the first time, is to simply take that line for value, so we feel the pressure a little less. Sometimes when we three barrel for value we don't really take note of the times we get folds. Our goal when scouting the possibility of improving of our 3-barrel bluff game is to watch our opponents intently, even when we are firing 3-barrels for value. We should see how many folds we get, in which situations and against which opponents!Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Other Top Recommended Articles
If you enjoyed these other top recommended articles on the subject of bluffing..Texas Holdem Bluff Strategy Chart
- Semi-Bluffing
- Bluffing on the River
- Intermediate Poker Bluffing
No poker player can win his/her way to the pot without bluffing. In other words, poker success is almost impossible for players who haven't learned the art of bluffing. The strategy of bluffing in poker can be defined as behaving in such a manner that opponents believe you have a better hand than you actually have.
Slot machine golden sun 2001. The value of a bluff depends on when it is made. Poker players cannot bluff just for the fun of it; they need to study the gaming situation and analyse it well before they can make a bluff that truly works.
Texas Holdem Bluff Strategy Guide
The following is a short bluffer's guide to Texas Hold'em Poker.
- Never bluff when there are too many players around
Bluffing works best when there aren't too many players at the table. The only problem is that too many players know this, owing to which a player who bluffs during the last phases of the game may not succeed unless he/she bluffs really well. Beginners must remember that their bluff can cost them a lot if nobody falls for it. They, therefore, need to study their opponents and the gaming situation really well before using this strategy. - Bluff tight players, but carefully
Players who employ a tight style of play are the easiest to bluff. However, the bluffer must remember that tight players are often the smartest. An ideal strategy would be to bluff during the early stages of the game, and if the tight opponent remains unmoved, it generally means that he/she has a very good hand and doesn't want to give it up. - Bluffing should be scarce on the River
Most of the players would have folded their hands by now, and only two types of players remain playing—the ones who stick on with the hopes of winning the pot and the ones who really have a good hand. A player who has a weak hand can try bluffing under these circumstances as it will force at least a few players left standing to fold.
- Bluff on high-stakes and no-limit Hold'em games
Bluffing is too valuable a strategy to waste on the low-stakes tables because it works only when there is a lot of money at stake. - Late position bluffing
A player who is in late position often has a greater advantage over the other players at the table. He/she gets the chance to make a move only after viewing and analysing the moves of the other players. If none of their opponents have raised, players in the late position can try a bluff, but again it should be a really good bluff otherwise a smart opponent will see through it. - Bluffing on mediocre flops
Most players hardly think twice before folding on mediocre flops, but a smart player can actually use the gaming situation to his/her situation. But players should first determine if bluffing is really necessary in this situation. - Taking advantage of opponents' weak areas
A good time to bluff would be when opponents are short-stacked. They would be already concerned about their short stack and would swallow the bluff hook, line, and sinker. - Be calm
Bluffing in Texas Hold'em Poker is all about facial expressions. An expert bluffer never gets excited when he/she has a good hand, but remains calm and unperturbed. Players must remember that they are being closely watched by their opponents, and the minute they show through the slightest twitch of their facial muscles that they have got a good hand, the opponents are going to use it to their advantage. - Develop that poker face
All poker players must develop the poker face that is devoid of all expressions or only those expressions that they want other players to see. The slightest change in opponents' facial expressions can tell smart players a lot about the nature of the cards they hold and smart players can definitely use this information to their advantage. - Body language is also important
The way one twitches, stretches, sighs, moves from one side to the other, rests one's elbow on the table, and so on and so forth reveals a lot of information about the type of cards one holds. If players do not want their opponents to analyse their body language, they should maintain complete control over their bodies.
