LESSON: The Fine Art of BLUFFING

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 09.09.2007, 04:21

LESSON: The Fine Art of BLUFFING

Hello, my poker winners!

Before I give you my personal secrets of bluffing successfully, I want you to know how to keep from getting bluffed yourself.

There are lots of ways to tell if a player is bluffing. You can learn to spot a bluffer if you learn the signs, which are: 1) talkative in chat; 2) in a hurry to act; 3) Impatient and sometimes rude to slower players; 4) Usually bets higher than the other players; 5) Raises a lot; and 6) Tries to distract you.

Players with the characteristics I just listed are the ones I have found to bluff quite often. So the first thing I would tell you is that if you are going to bluff, DON'T show those behaviors. Good players will spot you, just as you will now hopefully spot the bluffers better. Also remember that we all get bluffed once in a while and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Happens to the best of us.

Now. The best thing to know about your own bluffing is not to do it often. You would be surprised how rarely professional players bluff. And when they do, they NEVER admit it. They may even lie about it if asked.....and that is fair at the poker table! Poor players often like to boast when they win a hand by bluffing. They just can't keep quiet about it. They want you to know that they fooled you. That is their downfall, because it will probably be the last time they ever fool anybody at the table about anything. So when you win a hand by bluffing, accept your winnings matter-of-factly, as if you were holding the best hand.

The second best thing to know about bluffing is how much to raise with your bluff. I have found this secret to work as a measuring device to tell you the right amount: Raise a big enough amount that it just begins to scare you a little bit! That will be the right amount! Works almost every time. It does no good to bluff if it is not very costly to the remaining players to call you. It will have to really hurt their stack for them to call you if you are going to scare them out. So ALWAYS check to see how much they have before you raise.

So......you don't bluff often, but when you do, do it right! This lesson is meant to teach you how to do it right. You can learn the fine art of bluffing the same way you learn everything else: by knowing the proven methods and sticking to them. Unfortunately, I could not learn that way. I had to learn by trial and error and I lost a lot of money learning. You don't have to do that.

The difference is I did not have a poker Guru. And you have a hopelessly honest one who tells you everything he has learned that works for him. If something doesn't work for me at least 90 per cent of the time, I don't try to teach it to you. I don't even mention it.

Which reminds me to once again mention this to you and to keep mentioning it to you until you probably get tired of hearing it. DON'T waste your money buying "How To" poker books. The authors are in the sales business, not in the poker-playing business. And even if they DO make good money playing poker, they are not going to give their best secrets away to as many people as they can possibly sell the books to. Think about it. Would you?

I wouldn't UNLESS I had found a relatively small group of people for whom I had developed a lot of respect, appreciation, admiration, and a very special feeling of close friendship that will almost surely always exist, even if some of them drop out of sight without warning. The Poker Crushers are not easy to forget. Not a single solitary one of them. I have never been this happy accepting the responsibilities of a Guru.

Okay. Now on with the lesson.

Decide before you sit down to play if you are going to bluff tonight. If yes, then wait for the perfect time. Okay, how will you know when it is the perfect time? The perfect time is: 1) when most of the players have folded; 2) when the pot is big enough to be worth the risk; 3) when you have played several hands not betting or even calling; 4) when almost every time you DID bet, you won the hand; 5) when you are sure they have noticed that if you bet the big bet, you had the big hand; and 6) when you have made them think you fold every time you don't have excellent hole cards like a high pair or suited faces. THEN when you bluff, you can clean up big-time, maybe making a lot of your profit for the night in just that one hand.

It is a fine art. As such, you must do more than just learn it. You must MASTER it.

This has so far been just half of my lesson on bluffing. But I want to give you time to study and learn it well before I continue with the rest, which builds on it.

So, my friends, that's it for this time. Part 2 on the fine art of bluffing will be coming very, very soon!

My best to you, as always,

Your PokerGuru

Posts: 143 · Posted: 09.09.2007, 04:47

thankyou PokerGuru
cant wait for part 2
all the best to you and your family
my friend Smile

Posts: 654 · Posted: 10.09.2007, 21:08

Thanks for the great lesson, Guru!

Makes me wanna go right out and try it. I will report back on how I did. So far your lessons have increased my profits by about 60 to 70 per cent, but I am talking little money, not big money.

But even so, 70% more on the dollar makes a heck of a big difference! So thank you very much!

Also -- I would be amiss if I did not say it was soooooo good to see you. The welcome mat is out for you at all times at my house!

royalblush

Posts: 244 · Posted: 21.10.2007, 11:40

Thank you Poker Guru

Posts: 505 · Posted: 21.10.2007, 17:00

Oh I am guilty...guilty...guilty!!! I do tend to show my hand if I bluffed to put doubt in the minds of those at my table... never did I think it would work against me!! I don't do it to be a smart butt though LOL

And I also don't tend to raise enough either... I am going to put this lesson to work right now!!!

Thank you guru!!

Beckie

Posts: 1825 · Posted: 21.10.2007, 17:48

Thanks Guru. Well you have confirmed what I have already tried out myself. Especially on the way I bet. I bet strong if I have a good strong hand behind me and I am aggressive. I notice when I have been playing awhile at one table, most players start folding when I get aggressive so it puts me in a good position when I do decide to bluff. I rarely ever show my hand winning or otherwise so they just have to guess what I fold and play.