Bluffing is an essential part of poker. You need to know how to bluff as well as how to
spot 9️⃣ bluffs if you want to increase your edge over the competition.
When you know what
some of the common tells are, 9️⃣ you can recognize it in others and adjust when
required.
This is especially true for live games where there are more 9️⃣ opportunities to
pick up tells, and you’ll encounter more amateur players who are giving away
information.
It’s important to note right 9️⃣ at the start that the ways to spot poker
bluffs described in this article will not work every time, all 9️⃣ the time.
The fact that
you’ll still get it wrong from time to time is nothing to worry about. If anything,
9️⃣ it’s an opportunity to learn and refine your bluff spotting skills even more.
Certain
behaviors and actions are more frequently found 9️⃣ with players who are bluffing, and this
knowledge should be more than enough to give you a solid edge.
So for 9️⃣ the sake of this
article, let’s leave all of the balancing discussion and minimal defense frequencies
aside and concentrate on 9️⃣ actual indications that your opponent might be trying to bluff
you.
1. Intent Staring
There are some pros out there who’ll stare 9️⃣ down their opponents
no matter what. Their stare isn’t meant to scare other players into folding but rather
make them 9️⃣ uncomfortable and further increase the pressure of the situations.
With
amateurs, however, this is a completely different story.
If an amateur player 9️⃣ keeps
staring at you after they’ve made their big bet, there is a big chance they’re
bluffing.
Their “scary” glare is 9️⃣ meant to compensate for their weak hand. If you aren’t
afraid of their bet, they’re hoping you’ll back out in 9️⃣ the face of their brave
behavior, which must mean they have the goods.
However, while staring alone is usually
a sign 9️⃣ of weakness, you shouldn’t judge your decisions entirely on that and should
consider other information.
For example, if your opponent also 9️⃣ starts talking a lot and
taunting you into calling, alarm bells should be going.
Most recreational players don’t
have it in 9️⃣ them to casually talk and taunt you (without their voices breaking at some
point) when they have a stone-cold bluff.
2. 9️⃣ Quick Bets
When someone is hell-bent on
getting you to fold, they’ll often lack the patience to play the hand the 9️⃣ way they’re
supposed to.
They bet the flop, you called, and now the turn is out.
As you tap the
table or 9️⃣ as the word “check” crosses your lips, you see them already pushing out a
stack of chips, often accompanied by 9️⃣ a loud statement.
More often than not, these quick
bets are a sign of a bluff.
When someone has a good hand, 9️⃣ the last thing they want is
for you to fold. So, they’ll usually take their time to figure out how 9️⃣ much to bet.
On
top of that, they’ll act slowly exactly because they don’t want to telegraph just how
strong they 9️⃣ are.
If you’re holding a marginal hand like a second pair with a solid
kicker, you’ll also want to take a 9️⃣ moment and think about the turn card. Has it changed
anything? Do you need/want to keep betting?
So, there are very 9️⃣ few instances where
someone will be firing these snap bets on the turn or the river with a very strong
9️⃣ hand.
Maybe if they’ve flopped a set and are afraid you’re drawing to a straight or
flush, they’ll want you to 9️⃣ fold so they don’t get sucked out on, but this rarely
happens.
Pay attention to these snap bets if you want 9️⃣ to get better at spotting
bluffs.
Ideally, you’ll have already seen that player doing something similar in a hand
against someone 9️⃣ else before, which should give you even more information.
3. Weird Bet
Sizings
It’s true that inexperienced players aren’t that good when 9️⃣ it comes to figuring
out a proper bet sizing, since that is one of the hardest things at the tables.
They’ll
9️⃣ frequently make bets that are quite small in comparison to the pot, which will cause
frequent “bad beats” and “suckouts.” 9️⃣ What they don’t realize is that it was their bad
sizing that gave other players correct odds to keep chasing.
However, 9️⃣ even recreational
players will size their bets in a “normal” way for the most part. They might be betting
on 9️⃣ a smaller or a bigger side of things, but it doesn’t look too much out of the
ordinary.
Then, all of 9️⃣ a sudden, you see them firingR$200 into aR$70 pot.
This kind of
an unusual bet just screams “bluff.”
It’s usually a player 9️⃣ trying to buy the pot and
break the dry spell or get back to even. Perhaps they’ve just realized that 9️⃣ winning
what’s in the middle would put them back in the black and figured no one is crazy
enough to 9️⃣ call such a big bet.
Do be careful, though, especially when dealing with
these big bets.
Sometimes they’ll also be coming from 9️⃣ a player who’s just turned the
nuts and got too excited. So, when trying to put things together, also consider
9️⃣ whatever else you might know about the player in question, like:
Are they aggressive in
general?
Have you seen them show many 9️⃣ bluffs?
Do they look nervous?
You can’t afford to
go wrong in these spots too frequently. So, take your time before you 9️⃣ make a final
decision.
That said, keep an eye out for any weird bet sizes and pay attention to them.
If 9️⃣ you can assess these situations correctly more often than not, you can bump up your
win rate quite nicely.
4. They 9️⃣ Give You “Friendly Advice”
I’ve been in many poker games
and have played with quite a few people you could genuinely 9️⃣ call nice. But the fact
someone’s nice in real life doesn’t mean they’re in the business of giving away money
9️⃣ at the poker table.
Whenever a player tries to give you some friendly advice and
convince you to fold your hand 9️⃣ because it’s “no good” it’s an alarm for me!
Sure, if
you’re playing in a cash game with your brother or 9️⃣ your best friend, they may genuinely
want you to fold because you’re already stuck, and they don’t want to take 9️⃣ your
money.
Other than that, I’d be very skeptical about anyone convincing me to fold for my
own good.
Some more experienced 9️⃣ players have turned this type of speech play into real
art, and they’ll sound very honest and convincing when talking 9️⃣ to you.
Just try and
remember that this is the poker table you’re sitting at. People are after your chips
(which 9️⃣ is the whole point of the game, after all), and they’ll get them any way they
can.
Combined with the fact 9️⃣ that no one would want you to fold when they have a hand,
this can be a good indication of 9️⃣ an actual bluff in the making.
5. Physical
Tells
Basing your decisions on physical tells is always a risky proposition.
While some
people 9️⃣ will tell you that this is a huge part of the game, I’d say you should only use
them as 9️⃣ an additional source of information when you already have an inkling someone
might be bluffing.
The problem with physical tells is 9️⃣ that they’re just not too
reliable unless you know someone really well.
Things such as shaky hands, heavy
breathing, and hard 9️⃣ swallowing can be a sign of a bluff. But they can also mean someone
is just excited or nervous because 9️⃣ they’re not used to playing live or have a huge hand
and are hoping you call.
What you may want to 9️⃣ pay attention to, though, is if you
notice someone trying their best to hide certain reactions or behavior.
If their hands
9️⃣ are shaking and you notice them stop shuffling their chips because of it, it’s more
likely they’re bluffing. If they 9️⃣ weren’t bluffing, they probably wouldn’t care as much
about what you could read from it.
When you find yourself up against 9️⃣ someone, who’s
been playing live for a while and seems to be a good player in general, you should be
9️⃣ careful about the value you assign to any physical tells.
These players are likely to
be aware of their table presence 9️⃣ and might intentionally let you see certain things
that you could interpret a certain way.
So as with everything in poker, 9️⃣ you can get way
more value from observing recreational players and adjusting based on those
observations rather than trying to 9️⃣ pick on a regular.
6. The Story They’re Telling
Doesn’t Add Up
There are many different ways to go about spotting bluffs, 9️⃣ but one of
the safest routes is to think about the hand in progress.
It’s often said that bluffing
is like 9️⃣ telling a story, and a good story needs a beginning, middle, and ending to all
work together for it to 9️⃣ make sense.
Experienced players know this, but amateurs not so
much.
If you’re the one driving the action in the hand until 9️⃣ the river and then all of
a sudden your opponent bets into you when the river is dealt, you must 9️⃣ ask yourself:
Does this make any sense?
Has the river card changed anything?
Have they slow-played a
monster this way?
Sure, if the 9️⃣ river card completes a flush or an obvious straight, you
can stop to think.
But if it’s an irrelevant card that’s 9️⃣ paired the lowest card on the
board or doesn’t complete any draws, what is it that they’re trying to represent?
When
9️⃣ you pick off these bluffs, they’ll often ask you, how could you call such a big bet on
the river? 9️⃣ Were you not afraid they had the nuts?
But it’s really hard to have the nuts
in Hold’em, and most people 9️⃣ don’t take these weird lines when they do get it.
If you
make a mistake now and then and run into 9️⃣ a weirdly played monster hand, so be it.
If
the story doesn’t add up, it’s much more likely to be a 9️⃣ bluff than anything
else.
Staying Alert At The Table
All these unique ways to spot poker bluffs are good,
but at the 9️⃣ end of the day, every person is different.
While someone will never make an
overbet bluff, others will regularly put their 9️⃣ stack on the line with weird bluff
lines.
So, if you want to become good at picking off bluffs, you need 9️⃣ to stay on top of
your game.
The best players don’t drift away when they’re not involved in a hand. They
9️⃣ continue to pay attention to what’s going on around them and soak as much information
as is humanly possible.
Some will 9️⃣ even take notes on other players on their phones.
These general ideas are much more applicable if you have some 9️⃣ solid reads on a
particular player and their tendencies.
Almost everybody pays attention to big pots,
but you should also be 9️⃣ aware of the small ones.
Did someone buy a 10 big blind pot with
a 20 big blind bet? That player 9️⃣ is much more likely to do something similar in a much
more important spot for a larger amount.
Did someone talk 9️⃣ their way out of a smallish
pot by getting the other player to fold their hand? Rest assured that the 9️⃣ same player
might try something similar against you in the future.
If you can see a couple of
showdowns in similar 9️⃣ situations, you can make a mental note about specific player’s
tendencies, and this will surely come in handy later in 9️⃣ the session when you have to
make a big decision.
This may seem like hard work, but once you get used 9️⃣ to it, you’ll
notice it can be a lot of fun as well.
It’s like a game within a game.
Gathering
information 9️⃣ on your opponent and making correct decisions based on that information
will make you feel good and boost your confidence 9️⃣ – not to mention your win
rates.
Summary: Spotting Poker Bluffs Is A Science
I don’t think there is a guide in
9️⃣ the world that can teach you everything you need to know about how to spot a bluff.
This is one 9️⃣ of those areas where experience and practice are an invaluable part of the
process.
While certain patterns definitely exist, picking up 9️⃣ on them and interpreting
it is a science on its own.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t do your best 9️⃣ to gather
as much theoretical knowledge as possible, but different players have different
tendencies, so you have to really focus 9️⃣ on the table and observe them.
While bluffing
and catching your opponents is an important part of the game, don’t let 9️⃣ this become
your only preoccupation.
You can improve your profitability by getting better at
reading people, but this is only a 9️⃣ small part of what you need to do to become a
successful player.
In the end, by developing other areas of 9️⃣ your game and learning
sound strategies, you’ll become better at reading bluffs as well – simply because
you’ll have a 9️⃣ better understanding of poker!
