Bluffing in Limit Texas Holdem Poker

By Martin Fromage

Everybody knows about the bluff. Of all the bets you’re going to come across in your Texas Holdem career, the bluff will be the most familiar. It’s also the one most likely to make or break you as a winning poker player. It is critical to poker strategy, particularly in Texas Holdem. Anybody can win a hand when they’ve got the nuts; how you play when you don’t have the nuts will separate you from the pack.

So what do you need to know about bluffing? More than you might think. The definition simply put is that a bluff is a bet intended to make another player fold a stronger hand than the one you have.

When to Bluff in Limit Holdem
The most important thing to remember about bluffing in any game, at any time, is to be selective. Have a good reason to bluff. If you bluff every time you’re behind in a hand, it will cost you. A lot. So bluff when the conditions are right: when you sense weakness in your opponent or you’ve set it up perfectly through your betting patterns. In Limit Holdem, bluffing opportunities are much rarer than in No limit Texas Holdem. In No Limit you can bet as much as you have in front of you and put a lot of pressure on your opponents to fold, so the bluff is quite effective. It’s harder to do that in Limit Holdem, since there’s only so much you can bet, and players will be reluctant to fold for just one bet if they have any kind of hand.

But bluffing opportunities definitely do exist. If you find those opportunities and take advantage of them, you’ll win extra bets and winning extra bets is the key to success in Limit Texas Holdem. Here are two quick examples:

Limit Hold’em Bluffing Opportunity #1: One Opponent
Pulling out the bluff on more than one opponent in Limit Texas Holdem is almost always doomed. One of them is almost always holding a hand strong enough to call just one or two more bets to see you. The more opponents, the bigger the pot is, so calling on the off chance of a bluff is a good odds play anyway. But if it’s down to one opponent, and you manage to pick up on tells saying that he holds a weak hand, you’re not going to come across a better opportunity in Limit Hold’em to steal a pot with a bluff.

Limit Holdem Bluffing Opportunity #2: Small Pot
It’s just impossible to bluff your opponents if the pot gets too big. Say there are 10 big bets in the pot. Another player only needs to catch your bluff 10% of the time for it to be the right call. So they almost always will. And you’ll lose. Conversely, if there are only a few bets in, your opponent will be way more likely to let go of a weak hand. You’ll only win a few bets when you bluff an opponent out of a small pot, but that’s the big difference in Limit Holdem. Winning players win extra bets. Losing players don’t.

 

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