Cut back on the bluffing
The bluff is one of the most intriguing strategy-maneuvers in poker. Relieving your opponent of his money while holding only rags is one of the most exhilarating feelings indeed, but it is such a wild rush precisely because of how rarely it comes about.
People, who get most of their poker education from Hollywood movies, tend to think that bluffing is in fact what winning poker is about. Hence, one of the biggest leaks in rookies’ games is that they bluff way too much.
Healthy bluffing is indeed an integral part of poker strategy, but in reality it’s a very complex move, and the blind bluffs that most rookies fire out at a rate of several per hour don’t really have anything to do with it. If you want to improve your game radically, stop bluffing altogether, at least until you understand how it should be done.
Bluffing on poker sites are more intruing as you are never see opponents face and it makes it more difficult to spot out bluffing. Hoever there are tricks which you can follow on poker sites to find out blufffing which will also help you in your own bluffing techniques.
There are several types of bluffs some of them are described below:
Small Ball Bluffs
Small ball bluffs are relatively frequent and they usually yield marginal value for the bluffer. Here’s an example of a small ball bluff: you’re on the button and the hand gets checked around to you after a flop which saw no preflop action. The sensible thing to do here is to fire out a reasonably sized bet because you’re facing two possibilities: one of your opponents actually has a hand which he’s slowplaying, or nobody has anything and they’re ready to fold. If you do make everyone fold and take down the pot, you’ll log a minor profit here.
This is what a small ball bluff is about. It happens all the time at the table, and sometimes people will fold to the bluffer even though they know he’s actually bluffing.
Semi Bluffs
Semi bluffs are a different breed altogether. A semi bluff happens when you have a good drawing hand but nothing more and you fire out a bet on it hoping to make the other people fold. A Semi bluff carries much better EV+ than regular pure bluffs because it offers players two ways to win: either by making their opponent(s) fold or by hitting their outs and winning at showdown. A classic example of the semi-bluff is the 4-card flush on the flop situation. Most poker players automatically semi-bluff such hands all the time, which makes them quite predictable and transparent. Make sure you do not commit that mistake.

Another thing to keep in mind about semi-bluffing: even though it offers two ways to win the pot, the primary goal of a semi-bluff is always to take the pot right away and to avoid showdown.
Pure Bluffs
Pure bluffs are the type that rookies instantly fall in love with. This breed is tricky though because it only offers the bluffer one way to win the pot: by making the opponent fold. Just firing out one of these bluffs blindly is almost guaranteed to lead to failure. In order for a pure bluff to succeed, you need to go through a careful process of analysis and opponent-reading. One of the most commonly used pure bluffs is the firing of the second bullet on the flop of a hand in which the player made a preflop raise. That second bullet may be a pure bluff, but it is by no means a blind one. Through it, the bluffer takes advantage of the show of strength he’s made preflop.
Floating is another pure bluff. Floating is meant to combat the second bullet on the flop bluff. The floater calls the second bullet fired by the bluffer, with the intention to plant doubt in his mind and to scout for a sign of weakness on the turn. If the sign of weakness occurs (in the form of a check) the floater swings into action and executes the other bluffer.
Probe bets represent the only completely blind form of bluffing, as they’re usually made out of position. All the above described bluffs are best made from late position.
As you can see, completely blind bluffing is an extremely rare occurrence in poker, it is therefore strategically disastrous to abuse it.
Another thing that is strategically wrong is to play without rakeback. Rakeback deals like the Ultimate Bet rakeback or the Absolute Poker rakeback offer you a 30% rebate on rake you generate, money that would otherwise end up in the poker room’s pockets.











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