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Bluffing
DEFINED: Betting with nothing, with the intention of
making your opponent(s) fold.
YOU HOLD: 3 9
YOUR OPPONENT HOLDS: K
Q
BOARD: A
K
7
6
The only way you can win this hand is if you can make
opponent fold, so betting here would be a bluff.
Alot of new players think no limit hold’em is
all about bluffing. While theyaren’t entirely
wrong(bluffing plays a larger role in no limit games
than any other), most don’t go about it the right
way. When first starting out, it is a good idea to go
out of your way not to bluff. If you are new to the
game, you should be focusing on learning what kinds
of hands will win when showed
down, not trying to make your crappy ones win.
Semi Bluffing
DEFINED: Betting with a hand that is weak now, but if
called, it can become the best hand.
YOU HOLD: 39
YOUR OPPONENT HOLDS: K
Q
BOARD: A
K
7
6
There are 2 ways you can win here
A: you bet and your opponent folds
B: you bet and get called, and catch any spade on the
river
The big difference between a semi-bluff and a good
old fashioned bluff is that there are two ways you can
win when semi-bluffing, and only one way you can win
if you are bluffing with nothing(AKA stone cold bluff).
Next time you are on a big draw(open ended straight,
flush, or preferably both) and you think your opponents
hand is weak, try a semi bluff instead of
calling. Make a solid bet into the pot, big enough to
allow your opponent to make the fold, but small enough
so it doesn’t overly commit you to the pot. Employ
this play and you will be amazed how often you take
down pots where you were likely a 3-1 underdog.
Value Betting
DEFINED: Making a small bet to try and guarantee that
you will get called by an inferior hand, instead of
making a big bet where you are less likely to be called.
YOU HOLD: A
A
YOUR OPPONENT HOLDS: K
Q
BOARD: 7
2
K
6
J
Nothing feels better than pushing every last chip into
the middle of the pot, knowing that there is no way
those chips won’t be returning shortly with a
bunch of their friends. However, it is not always the
best play to push all of your chips in when you have
an extremely powerful hand. In this example, your over
pair turned into the nut flush, while your opponents
top pair is now a queen high flush. Assuming the pot
is 5000 chips, and you both have 10000 chips left to
bet, an all in move here would probably not get called.
Even if you bet about the size of the pot, its not very
likely that the queen high flush will call. In this
case you could try what's known as a value bet. If you
bet 2500 into this pot, the Queen high flush will have
no choice but to call and pay off your higher flush.
Sometimes its better to bet small and guarantee a call
than to bet big and hope for one.
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