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Bluffing is one of the most exciting weapons in your poker arsenal—but when you get called too often, it quickly turns into a costly habit. If your opponents always seem to sniff out your bluffs, chances are you’re making one of a few common mistakes.
You Don’t Bet The River
A lot of your opponents call the turn with the plan to “re-evaluate the river.” Which is another way of saying they have no idea what they’re going to do on the river, but no one wants to say that out loud.
If you don’t follow through on the river, these tentative players without a plan are going to win every single time. You can’t let that happen!
If the board comes 9♥8♥5♦ and you raised preflop on the button with 10♠7♠, you have a case for barreling. You have a draw. If your opponent called out of the big blind and just called on the flop, it’s likely they would have check-raised the flop with many sets or two pairs. They likely would have three-bet preflop with overpairs. You’re blocking the nut straight. You have a lot going for you here.
However, if you fire the flop, most people will call you with any pair or draw. If the turn is an offsuit king, for example, that’s good for you, but most of your opponents will still call your turn barrel. They’re curious if you’re bluffing the scare card or if you actually have it. You will have to follow through on the river to get anything done.
There’s only three bets that get your opponent to think. Those are triple barrels, all-ins, and overbets. If you’re not doing one of them, most of your opponents will call too much, which is disastrous for your bluffs.
You Bluff Multi-Way
You see players do this all of the time, and it costs them chips. They raise from early position with Q-Q, and get called by the lojack, button, small blind, and big blind.
They get frustrated by this, which is an odd way of denying reality. Every pot has been multi-way in live poker for years. Acting like this is a new development almost seems like a brand of insanity.
No matter. The denial of reality has not finished.
The board comes A♠6♦2♥. It’s checked to our hero in early position. They go ahead and fire a large bet.
Why? No ace is going to fold. They’re not going to keep firing once they “find out where they’re at” as they put it. What is the point of this bluff?
Why do we have to put so many chips into the middle here to find out someone has an ace? It’s a five-way raised pot. Of course, someone has an ace!
You Don’t Overbet
This is another useful bet that people do not use enough. Let’s go back to the other situation we were discussing.
The board comes 9♥8♥5♦ and you raised preflop on the button with 10♠7♠. The big blind called you. You continuation-bet on the flop and they call. You know they likely would have three-bet preflop with an overpair. They would have likely check-raised on the flop with a set or two pair. Their range is likely capped at one mediocre pair right now.
Let’s say the turn is an offsuit king. You have a couple of options at this point. You can bet the turn and set up a triple barrel. That is a fine play.
You can also overbet. If you bet 1.5X the pot, the bet as a total bluff needs to succeed 60% of the time.
Your opponent will need to defend with four hands out of 10 to make sure you do not immediately profit with any two cards. That is going to be exceedingly difficult for them to do. They have primarily mediocre pairs that match the board. That turn was not good for them. They still have no idea what to do on the river.
However, most people will not overbet on this turn. They bet 75% pot, which is fine, but they need to follow up with something on the river.
If you’re not triple barreling or overbetting, you can’t expect folds.
You Don’t Go All In
This is another play people hesitate to do. If they do bet something like 75% of the pot on that turn, they need to be willing to fire the river.
If the river bet is going to be an all-in shove, they have to be prepared to commit to that move.
However, many players will bet the turn, get called, and on the river, they will chicken out from the jam.
No! This is your moment! Many recreational players believe all-ins are sacred. They think you’re not allowed to do them without a great hand. Apply max pressure!
You Don’t Identify When Your Opponent Is Weak
Most recreational players bluff when they’re frustrated and they want their hand to be good. See the previous example with pocket queens. They do not bluff when it’s likely their opponent doesn’t have much of anything.
How can you know your opponent doesn’t have much? Always ask the question, “what does he not have?” Once you can rule out the best hands, you can keep applying pressure.
If you reraise someone and they just call, ask yourself, “would this player have raised again with aces or kings?” If the answer is yes, then you can reasonably rule out those hands.
If you now continuation bet versus that person on a board with a flush draw like 9♦5♦4♠ and they just call, you now need to ask yourself, “would my opponent likely have check-raised with a set here?”
If the answer is yes, then you can remove those hands as well. Keep this process up until you can remove many of the best hands. These are the occasions to apply pressure on your opponents, not when you’re frustrated your hand missed.
Conclusion
Getting your bluffs through isn’t about being unpredictable, it’s about being believable. Fix these five leaks, and you’ll start forcing more folds, saving more chips, and winning more pots without ever turning over your cards.
Learn how to play A-K when it misses the flop!
Alexander Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and bestselling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist, and has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was the $250,000 Guaranteed on ACR Poker. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in Ignition tournaments while he listens to death metal. Free training packages of his are provided to new newsletter subscribers who sign up at PokerHeadRush.com