To Bluff
Bluffing is a big part of the game, so big in fact that there’s an entire chapter on the subject later in this book. Betting to bluff, however, is not the same thing as raising to bluff. Raising to bluff, especially when all the cards are out, is a tactic that is very seldom used except at the highest limit games ($40-$80 and above).
In those hands, decisions about calling and folding are based on reading a player’s actions in a specific hand. Plus, you’re getting great pot odds to call that last raise. Usually, the pot is so big that it is mathematically correct to make a “crying call” rather than lose the entire pot for want of calling one last bet.
I saw raising as a bluff used in a lower limit game only once in the last year. I’ll share that example with you:
Player A raised before the flop. Only Player B called. The flop was 9*6V34. Player A checked. Player B checked right behind him. The turn was the A4. Player A bet and Player B raised him. Player A folded immediately. Player B showed KVQV and said, “If you had an ace, you would have bet it on the flop.”
There are three reasons this raise as a bluff worked: Top Roulette Games
1. Player B knew his opponent. A player who raises before the flop will usually have AA, KK, QQ, or at least AK or AQ. He will almost always bet on the flop against a single opponent, especially with a ragged flop. Since Player A didn’t bet, Player B deduced that he didn’t have one of these hands.
2. Player B, even though he may have believed that he had the best hand after the flop, did not bet. Why? Because there were five small bets in the pot, and if Player B bet after Player A checked, Player A would be getting pot odds of 6 to l to call. There are a lot of hands with which you can call when you have only a l out of 7 chance of winning and the pot gives you the correct odds to call.
3. Player B, by not betting on the flop, kept the pot small and ensured that it offered the worst possible odds. The rake and the jackpot drop had reduced the pot to only four small bets (or only two big bets), by the time the turn card came. When Player A got raised on the turn, he realized that he did not have the right odds to call a raise with the prospect of having to call another bet on the river. He was getting odds of 7 to l to call the first raise. Even if his hand was as good as a pocket pair, he was 22 to l to hit it on the river. Play online casino games here.
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