Art of the Bluff

[Fonzi]

Art of the Bluff

I've discussed how to detect a late bluff and how to minimize your tells. Now it's time to expand on what you've learned, and realize what you have to do in order to come up with a reasonable bluff.

As the title implies, bluffing is an art. If bluffing were a science, it would be called automated speculation. Instead, it's an art where you pretend that something else is happening, something that isn't real. Bluffing is acting. But the question remains: Why bluff? You use a bluff to virtually increase the number of playable hands that you're dealt. In other words, you're going to be playing a hand that you don't actually have, which increases the perceived quality of your average hand.

Why look at it this way? Well , it's simple. Your story has to add up from the moment that the cards are dealt to you. So you should actually determine which two cards you're going to pretend to have in the hole as soon as you peek at them! For example, you look down and see 5 8 of hearts. In a split second, you decide to play it as AK of hearts. From this point on, every bet you make, every pause to consider the hand is going to be as in if you were holding AK.

It seems simple enough, but this sort of bluffing takes guts and nerves of steel. If an ace flops, you have top pair with best kicker, so you're going to have to bet it hard and keep drawing hands away, while trying to detect two pair or a set. If two spades hit on the flop and you've decided you were suited in spades, you need to play that speculative draw by getting in cheaply and hoping you hit your flush. If they don't buy your act, or they're too dumb to understand it, you could be set back quite a few bucks. You get the idea.

Using this method, you're playing your pretend hand first, and your actual hand second. This is where minimizing your tells is particularly important. If you have 5 8 of hearts, but you're pretending to play AK, and the board comes up 8 5 2 rainbow, you have to look unimpressed. Not confused, overly thoughtful, or amused. Remember, your AK didn't hit, and there's really nothing at all to consider, right? Only when you're about to fold your AK do you revert back to your true hand and bet out on your top two pair! And you have to minimize tells when you 'switch' from your fake hand to your true hand as well.

This method of bluffing might be called 'method bluffing'! Just like 'method acting'. You actually put yourself in different situation than reality reflects, and you act and react accordingly. The advantage is simple: If you believe your own acting, there will be less of a chance that you'll throw a tell. If you stick to the script, everyone else is more likely to believe you. The moment you deviate, you risk your story not adding up, which will cost you dearly.

Bill Ricardi ? Internet Gaming Guru