Bluffing in Holdem Poker | Part 1; Introduction

Why bluff in Holdem Poker?

Bluffing in holdem poker is what, besides from creating a stable poker structure and game, makes you money. Without using bluffing and counter bluffing techniques, you will at the very least fail at this game and at the apex you will lose tons of money. It all depends on the opposition. If you have extremely weak opposition that makes obvious bluffs and just throws money at your face by calling each and every bet, you do not have to worry about how to counter bluffs or how to make them yourself. For these kinds of games there is an easy rule; DO NOT BLUFF.

Bluffing and casino rake

But if there is any skill at the table, people won’t be calling everything, and this simple fact makes bluffing a good choice, because when you do it right, at the right times, people will fold to your worse hands, and this will tip the scale to your favor. Why? Do you ask. Well, if each and every hand in a 2 player game is played perfectly, without any bluffs, after 10.000 hands, no one will have won or lost any money, except maybe the casino, who takes a 5% rake of each and every pot. Usually, the odds won’t be so perfect, and one of you will play a better game. But still, usually your skill levels won’t be so very different, and overcoming that 5% is quite hard. I usually had a 7 or 8% edge on my opponents, which made me quite a lot of money, but only 2 or 3% of the edge I had, I could use, since 5% went to the casino.

Working on your edge in holdem poker

As you can see, working on that edge, especially when you play in a casino or on line, proves to be the most important thing in poker. Even if it’s just a 0,5% edge, it improves your profit with almost 25%, if you have, for example a 7% edge over your opponents. I hear you thinking that you have a 20% edge, well, no such thing. Unless you are the best poker player in the world, your edge will never be that big. A 7 to 9% average edge is very good, above that you are a kind of god. A poker god.

So now you understand that you need to use each and every edge that is available to you. And bluffing is the one big factor that can give you that edge!

See you next week!

Having A Good Poker Statistics Program

One thing about playing on-line holdem poker is that you will not come far without a good statistics program. Why? Well I will give you several of the many, many reasons;

Most Other People Already Have Some Sort Statistics Program

Yes, most people already have some sort of statistics program. Don’t pretend like you do not rationally know this. Everyone that is a little more serious than your average gambling addict about playing poker will try to get the max out of it. People want to win, and will try to do anything to get there. If you are a purist by nature, stop being one. I know quite a lot of people that say that they play on line, but they do not use statistics because it’s not “real poker”, well I’ve got news for them; on line poker is completely different from the live game. It’s basically another game. In the live game, I would actively try to kill you if you had a calculator or anything up to a laptop on the table. But in the live game, I will pump out every byte out of my computer to calculate nearly everything. Even the chance that you will be distracted by how many milliseconds I wait for my decision.

Well, if you really want to stay purist, then please do not use statistic programs, since that will give me an edge over you on the on-line poker tables.

You Can Bring Your Mad Math Skills Into The On-Line Poker Game

Well, everyone is always full on how poker is ruled by mathematics; using statistics will actually make that possible. And I know some people will now tell me they do all of this by ‘feel’ or actually do the mathematics in their head. I, however, think that they are really full of crap. Doing this would require an inhumane amount of remembrance and on the spot analysis. Even god wouldn’t be able to do it without ruining his poker face. So don’t pretend you are better than that. If you really want to get the edge by using mathematics, statistics is your way to go. I can even tell you that it is actually fun, for those of us that like math, it is genuinely fun. To give you a concrete example; when I am on the big blind and the button raises the field when there are almost no limpers, what is the right decision? Well, the right decision depends upon the amount he did that in the past, weighted by the image he has of you on this table. Steal% and your own statistics on that very table will count to make your decision. Also, the amount he folds to a Resteal% is also very important, obviously.

More in a few days, on how to become a good and even professional on-line holdem poker player.