10 Tips to Make Perfect Bluffs

30 Sep 2024

Poker is a very difficult game that involves bluffing. Sometimes you need to bet when you don't have the nuts. And it also involves bluff catching. Sometimes you need to call a bet when you don't have the nuts. And in this article we’re going to give you 10 tips to help you do that a whole lot better. 

#1: Choose the Correct Flop Hands to Bluff

Tip number one is to choose the correct flop hands to bluff with. What a lot of players do wrong, is they bet when they think they can't win the pot any other way. Or, whenever they feel like it. Or maybe when they get a read their opponent doesn't like their hand. But I do not think this is the right poker strategy. 

If you look at any game theory optimal solver that tells you how to play perfectly against either a player who plays perfectly, in response, or you can program in a player, who plays exactly like your opponent, it will tell you which hands to bluff with. And the hands that make the most sense to bluff have one of the following two properties or both. 

Either they have excellent equity, meaning if you bet and get called you can still win the pot some portion of the time, these are going to be with your draws. Like say you raise and your opponent calls and it comes 6-5-3. If you have 8-7 for an open-ended straight draw and two overcards, that is a really good hand to bet with even though it only has 8 high at the moment. This is a semi-bluff. It's betting with a hand that cannot win at the showdown but still has a lot of equity to improve. 

These hands love to bluff on the flop because they can get better hands to fold, like when you bet 8 high and your opponent folds Jack high, that's a great success for you because if you checked it down they would have won more often than not. And that's really good. 

If they call you, you can still win some portion of the time too and you'll have a really good hand when you do win, like top pair or a straight. Also you want to be bluffing with hands that have excellent blockers to the effective nut hands. These are going to be hands like the backdoor nut flush draw. 

So that, say on the turn, the turn brings 2 to the flush and you bet and your opponent calls on the river and brings 3 to that flush and you're sitting there with the Ace blocker to that backdoor flush, you know your opponent can't have the backdoor nut flush because you have the blocker in your hand, right, you have the Ace. That's a spot where you can apply a lot of aggression on the river and, well, your opponent has to worry about you having all the backdoor flushes. And they're going to fold a lot. 

Blocking your opponent's effective nut hands either now or on the later betting rounds makes for good bluffs. Do not just bluff randomly though because you think you can't win any other way. Sometimes it's okay to lose, believe it or not. 

#2: Bluff Turns with Added Equity

Next, you're also going to want to make a point to bluff on the turn when you get additional equity. When you bet the flop and get called, the best turns to continue bluffing on are those that increase your equity. Say you bet the flop with all the backdoor flush draws. Like say the flop is Jack, 6, 3, hearts, clubbed, and diamond. If you bet the flop with 2 hearts, 2 clubs, or 2 diamonds, and the turn is, let's say, another diamond, you're going to want to continue bluffing with a lot of your hands containing 2 diamonds because you just increased your equity a lot. 

Because roughly 18% of the time you're going to make a flush on the river when another diamond comes. When you don't have diamonds though, when you have hearts or clubs, or spades if you had it, those are usually going to be the hands you do not want to bet with because now they don't have that extra 18% to make a very good hand on the river. They did not increase their equity.

So you're going to keep betting with some of your bluffs on the turn, and you're going to give up with some of your bluffs on the turn. And when it does go check check on the turn, if your opponent bets the river you're just going to fold all of your garbage. But when they check on the river, now those backdoor busted draws that just have nothing, some of those are going to bluff on the river. You want to make sure you have bluffs in all of your ranges on all betting rounds based on how the hand can play out. 

Using this strategy of continuing to bluff when you have decent equity is usually going to be a pretty good play because when you do happen to get lucky and backdoor flush, well now you're sitting there with a very good hand that your opponent's not going to suspect. And you can make a big bet and get paid off. 

The same goes for many backdoor draws, not just backdoor flush draws, if you have backdoor straight draws. If you bet with a backdoor straight draw like Queen Jack on say 8, 7, 3, and the turn's a 10 or a 9, it's a really good spot to keep betting because now you have a gut shot to the nuts plus two overcards. 

Sometimes your river top pair, that's going to be good too. And sometimes you have Queen high on the river and you're going to need to bluff that too. So these are really good hands to keep bluffing. But if you bet the flop of Queen Jack on 8, 7, 3 and the turn's not a Queen Jack 10 or 9, it's okay to give up. 

#3: Be Willing to Triple Barrel

You need to be willing to bet the flop and the turn and the river, assuming you want to have value bets on the river. And in most scenarios, if you do bet the flop and the turn, you're doing that with a range of your best made hands and some bluffs. And your best made hands on the river are going to want to keep betting. So you need to have some bluffs. The best bluffs to bet with on the river are going to block your opponent's auto calls. These are hands that will literally never fold to a bet. 

So which hands will literally never fold to a bet? That is the nuts or the effective nuts. And those are going to be the nut flush and the nut straight, assuming those are available. For example, say there are three spades on the flop and you bet and your opponent calls on the turn. If they check and you bet and they call again on the river, if they check and you have the Ace of that three flush on the flop, that's a pretty good card to continue bluffing with on the river because you know they cannot have the nut flush, which takes away a lot of their auto calls, right? 

Same thing goes for the second nut flush. However, you have like the two of that suit. It's not all that relevant because they probably don't play a whole lot of hands containing the two normally before the flop to begin with. And the two only really block Ace two suited and maybe King two suited for the flush. So typically when you are going to triple barrel, you always want to block whatever the effective nuts are for your opponent because that's going to make them slightly more skewed towards non-premium hands. 

#4: Be Careful Against Calling Stations

Tip number four is to be careful against calling stations. If your opponent is known to simply never fold or not like folding in general, how should you adjust? Well, you should drastically under bluff. 

And that's going to be very true when all of the logical draws miss. A lot of these calling station players can look at the board and see the straight draw and flush draw missed, and when that happens, they're not folding. So don't try to make them fold. 

You may even have a really good bluffing candidate. One that, you know, it makes a whole lot of sense. And I would tell you, it does not matter. If they're not going to fold, there's no point in bluffing. You're literally just torching your money by going for it against those types of players. 

#5: Bluff Often on Scary Runouts

Tip number five is to bluff frequently on scary run outs. When the board run outs such that the best flop hands your opponent can have are now way worse on the turn and or river, you should usually keep bluffing. This is usually going to be when the turn puts up a three straight and a three flush or in the river brings a three straight and a three flush, because then hands like pocket Aces go way down in value.

And if the best hands your opponent can have is pocket Aces, well, then they have all kind of marginal hands in general. If your opponent check called your flop and turn bet, when you get to the river, ask yourself if the top pair top kicker is still a decently strong hand. 

If it is not, though, if the top pair top kicker is not very strong anymore, usually because the straights and flushes came in, then it's a really, really good time to bluff. 

#6: Consider Your Blockers

Tip number six is to always consider your blockers. The best hands to bluff contain blockers to your opponent's auto calls, like we discussed. These are hands blocking the effective nuts, because that means your opponent's just a little bit less likely to have a really, really strong hand. The worst hands to bluff with, though, contains blockers to your opponent's auto folds. So what is an auto fold? 

Well, this is usually gonna be stuff like a random Ace, King, or top end of the busted straight draw, because these are hands that your opponents will perhaps call a flop or turn bet with, but then fold on the river. And if you have those random cards like that, that you want them to have, it makes it a little bit more likely they have an effective nut hand, right? Or a medium strength hand that's not going to fold.

So you do not want to block hands that they will automatically fold with. Whenever you have those hands, it's really, really, really bad for you to bluff, and you should be way more inclined to give up.

When you block the garbage, or the hands that would call the flop and turn, and then logically fold the river, you should be way less inclined to bluff. 

#7: Bluff Catch in Good Spots

Now let's talk about bluff catching. For tip number seven, you should bluff catch in good spots. And the best spot to bluff catch is when a lot of logical draws fail to complete. This is when the flop has a flush draw and a straight draw, and it just completely bricks off. Say the flop comes eight of hearts, seven of hearts, two of clubs, two of spades, three of diamonds, eight, seven, two, two, three, with a flush draw. 

This is a spot where you can call down really wide, because there were a lot of draws your opponent could be betting the flop and turn with that would be sitting there with something like 10 high on the river. And most people who have any idea of how to play poker, I'm getting choked up on that one, if they're sitting there on the river with 10 high, they're going to bluff. And therefore, you should feel very inclined to call, perhaps with hands as wide as King high. 

That said, when there are no potential logical draws, like on King, 7, 2, 3, 9, well, now we should be way more inclined to over fold to a flop and turn and river bet a triple barrel, because a lot of players won't find very many hands to bet with on the turn and that will then feel inclined to bet on the river. 

Now if it is King, 7, 2, 3, sure, they could have 5, 4, or maybe Ace 4 or Ace 5. But besides that, there's not a whole lot of other hands. Plus your opponent has to worry about you just be sitting there with a King or any other pair that's just never going to fold, because the board is pretty clean for a King or any other pair.

So in those spots, if anything, you want to be looking to over fold. And I will say, exploitatively against most people in small and medium stakes games, you should be inclined to over fold because most people do not bluff often enough, unless there's just a ton of potential bluffs, like I said, when both the straight and flush draw miss. 

#8: Call with the Correct Hands

Tip number eight is to call down with the correct hands. The best hands to bluff catch with unblock your opponent's busted draws. Essentially, you do not want to have a card in your hand that would be a logical hand for your opponent to bluff with. Say the flop comes 8, 7, 2, for example. What are logical bluffs that would bet the flop and the turn and the river? 

First one that comes to mind for me is 6, 5, 8, 7, 2. If they have 6, 5, they have 8, 7, 6, 5, right? They'll bet the flop, we call, they'll bet the turn, we'll call. And on the river, if we check and they're sitting there with 6 high, they're gonna feel pretty inclined to bluff. So that means I don't want to have a hand like pocket 6s to call on the river. In fact, I'd probably rather have a hand like an Ace King than pocket 6s in this scenario because I really want them to have 6, 5 or 9, 6, right? Both of which would feel very inclined to bluff or 6, 4, right? 

So in that spot, you really don't want to have a 6 in your hand to call on the river. As another example, if a flush draw misses, a terrible hand to call down with would be the busted second nut flush draw. Because you may be thinking, oh, the flush draw is missed, they'll feel inclined to bluff if they have the Queen high flush or worse, so I'm gonna call with the busted King high flush draw. But that’s a no no! 

Having the busted King high flush draw takes away the King high busted flushes that they, you know, would naturally have, but also your kicker for the other King high, the other card is gonna block some of their flush draws as well. That's not a spot to call down at all. You'd much rather call without 2 to the suit that missed, because then they're more likely to have the busted flush draw. 

#9: Don’t Over-Fold on Connected Boards

Next, do not overfold on connected boards, kind of like we just discussed. When the board contains straight draws, there are often lots of potential draws that your opponent could have that would feel inclined to apply aggression. And when that is the case, look to call down with hands that beat all the busted draws, especially when you have any additional equity on the flop or the turn, like strong overcards or backdoor flush draw yourself. 

Anytime there's a 2 to a straight on the flop and the other card's kind of a blank, that's a good time to call down. This is usually when you hear about some of the top pros saying, I called down with Queen high and it was good. Usually the board was something like 7, 6, 2, because the opponent's gonna have a lot of 9, 8, 10, 8, 10, 9, and then the low end of the straight. And against that, Queen high is actually pretty good. 

Of course, you have to have a good read that your opponent's bluffing and you have to have a good read that your opponent won't bluff with random King highs for no good reason. But that is the time that you hear people calling down with stuff like Queen high correctly. 

#10: Call Wide Against Maniacs

Finally, you're gonna want to make a point to call down wide against maniacs. If your opponent loves to bluff, look to bluff catch really wide. Now this does not mean you should automatically call down with stuff like Queen high whenever you feel like it. You'd still need a good reason to call down and you still need to fare well enough against the opponent's bluffing ranges. 

Also, all boards are not the same. If the board contains 3 to a straight or 4 to a straight, you don't really want to call down with Ace high on that board because your opponent could just like randomly have a lot of straights or junky pairs that they decide to bluff with and you're gonna lose. But if the board's very uncoordinated, then Ace high is probably pretty good. 

If you look at the game theory optimal strategy, that actually does happen some portion of the time if the opponent's playing perfectly. Because when you bet the bottom pair on the flop and get called, you have 5 outs to improve to trips or 2 pairs. 

If your opponent checks on a scary turn, it's a pretty good hand to bet again because you'll randomly make 2 pair trips and win on the river, so you bet, your opponent calls. If the river brings another scary card, your opponent checks, bottom pair's no good, but it blocks your opponent's sets that are auto calls and 2 pairs that are likely auto calls. So your hand's almost never good at the river and it blocks your opponent's auto calls, so it becomes a pretty good bluffing hand, right? 

So the bottom pair, junky kicker, very often does end up being a good triple barreling hand. And if the bottom pair should be triple barreling, well now Ace high gets way worse, right? Because it actually loses to some of the bluffs. So always consider your opponent's tendencies and which hands they will use as bluffs. But in general, if your opponent likes to bluff, don't be afraid to call. That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed these 10 tips on bluffing and bluff catching.

I'm sure you have a friend who is really, really bad at bluffing or a friend that literally never calls on the river unless they have the nuts. Share this  with them. They will be forever grateful and they'll love both you and me. Good luck in your games, have fun, and I'll talk to you next time.