Poker Articles

Setting Up a Bluff
By Daniel Negreanu

One of the biggest mistakes I see novice players make is that they bluff in situations when it just couldn't possibly work. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this an excuse, "Well I had to try. I couldn't win if I didn't." To that I say, "Did you ever think that maybe you couldn't have won anyway?"

Wasted, desperation bluffs are like cancer to your bankroll. In order to bluff effectively you have to set up a bluff by thinking it through beforehand.

It would be similar to telling an elaborate lie.

For example, let's say you are trying to call your boss to let him know you can't come to work, because you are in bed with the flu. Yet in fact, you aren't home at all and are calling him from your hotel room in Vegas.

The first thing your boss is going to look for is a hole in your story. In this case, when his caller ID comes up with a 702 area code how are you going to explain that one? I thought you were sick in bed with the flu? What's up with the 702 area code? Your response would undoubtedly be something like, "Errr.. Umm. I dunno."

Your bluff didn't make sense because you didn't set it up right. You forgot to *69 yourself to have your caller ID blocked.

Let's look at another weak bluff attempt: The truth is, you were out with another woman all night, but you are trying to convince your wife that you spent the night at your friend Bill's place. So you tell her the following: "I was out with the some of the guys at the bar. You know, Tom, Mark, Bill and his wife Shawna. Well, Bill had too much to drink so I had to drive him home. I would have called you, but my stupid cell phone wasn't working."

Ok aside from the fact that your wife knows Shawna and could easily find out from her, Shawna has a driver's license and doesn't drink! Add to that the fact that not only do both Bill and Shawna have cell phones, but they have a land line at the house that works perfectly.

None of the "facts" you presented in your story make any sense at all. You needed to tell a more believable story and back it up with some information that didn't contradict what you were saying.

Finally, let's take a look at how all this relates to playing a hand of poker: You raise before the flop in a $5-$10 Texas hold'em game with 10 J and one player calls your bet. The flop comes K 9 4 and you bet $5 with your flush and straight draw. Your opponent raises you another $5 and you call.

The turn care comes the 7 and you check to your opponent who bets $10- you of course call the bet. Now the river card comes the 2. Or in poker terms, "A big fat brick!"

This is not the time, nor the place to attempt a bluff. You certainly can't win if you check, but what I'm trying to explain to you in this column is that you aren't going to win if you bet either. Your bet makes no sense.

Just like the weak story about Bill and Shawna, what are you trying to sell by betting when the 2 comes? If your opponent has anything at all, he is going to call your bluff in a heartbeat. Since you played the hand so cautiously up until that point, it's just too late to try and represent a strong hand. The only story you've told with your betting action is that you don't have a very good hand.

So how do you set up a bluff? The key thing you need to do is to set up the bluff earlier in the hand by playing the hand from the start in such a way that your opponents might actually think you have a very strong hand. In this particular hand, there would have been several ways to do that:

1. Re-raise the bet on the flop.
2. Check-raise the bet on the flop.
3. Check-raise the bet on the turn.

Had you done either of these things, taking control of the hand, your river bet when the 2 comes might look like it makes some sense.

The great thing about poker is that there are so many variables and so many ways to play different situations. If you chose to play it cautiously that's fine. Simply eliminate the desperate river bluff and you'd be eliminating a huge hole in your game.

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