New Betfair Poker Room is a Pile of Crap

[Hartley]

Changed over this week and it is just awful. I can't describe how bad this software is. You'd think a company the size of betfair would come up with graphics better than a 7th grader could write and you would think they'd actually test the software for obvious flaws - i.e. is the software going to deal 3 cards at once and then a turn and then a river? 5 games in a row the flop was 5 cards, next game it was 4 and then a river, next game flop was 1 card then the turn was 3 and the river was the last 2. Wow. Terrible. It also froze constantly.

[caddy]

thanks for the head's up.. Would hate for that to happen too me.

[DrChud]

Bluffing 101

I decided to write a little 101 on bluffing, be welcome to criticize. Its intended towards NL cash games on low/medium stakes, but at the end is a small addon for FL and tourneys. Its a long read.

First some simple Q/A.

1. Why do we bluff?
Simple, like anything else in poker we bluff to make money.

2. When do we bluff?
On a bunch of occasions.

3. How often do we bluff?
As often as we can get away with it.

4. Who do we bluff?
We bluff everyone, but THE prime targets for bluffing are nitty players because they will lay down a hand more often than others and also laggy players because they are more apt to have weak hands.

But enough useless rants, on to the good stuff.

1. Bluffing and odds.
Forget about the notion of bluffing as a desperate attempt to win the pot, or putting money into the pot with a bad hand.

A better way of thinking of a bluff is to look at it as an attempt to buy the pot. Let us say the pot is 100 bucks on the river, you have a busted hand that can't win. If a 50$ bet wins you the pot 1 out of 3 times, you're breaking even! This is the thought you have to have in your mind when you get called and the pot flies the other way.

Think of it like drawing to a hand and miss, sure it shucks to miss, but if its profitable in the long term we do it anyway, right? Needless to say then bluffing is a tool any player should master. Yes, you can be a winning poker player without it, but with it you'll win more if you do it correctly.

Obviously we don't just fire a donky half pot bet into the pot because we _might_ win, we plan it, make it plausible and make it look good. Let's go on.


2. Types of bluffs

Some basic bluffs, these are not absolute definitions, just words.

a.) The small bluff. This is a typical bluff that almost every poker players does from time to time. You raise to steal the blinds, continuation bet missed high cards or bet on the button when checked to. Very often you'll have a hand that _might_ be the best, like ace-king high or a weak ace preflop in late position. The pot is often small and bet sizes are very comfortable.

b.) The semibluff. This needs no explanation, most poker players have done this too. Simply bet a hand with outs so you can either win without a showdown or disguise your hand when you hit. Bet sizes doesn't really matter all that much, even big bets are comfortable because you got outs.

c.) The big bluff. This is the one that often give players problems, the pot is often big and you're trying to take it down without a legitimate hand, very often with a busted draw of sorts. Bluff bet sizes often have to be uncomfortably big and previous betting mean an opponent might have a very good hand.

d.) The leverage bluff. The levarage bluff is one of my favourite bluffs. You simply raise/bet a hand to give the impression of strength that will allow you to take down the pot on a later street. You might raise 76s preflop because it might flop something good and some of the time it might give you the ability take down the pot when you continuation bet a missed flop. Or if you think someone is on a draw you bet, so they will relinquish the hand if they miss, even if it might be best.

e.) The float. A very easy bluff. You simply call a bet on one street and if your opponent checks to you on the next you bet. In its simplest form you'll just do it when the flop looks to have missed a preflop raiser which is out of position.


3. Image

Your image will often define the success of your bluffs and when you should bluff. Ofcourse, your image does not reflect how you actually play, merely how you _suppose_ other players at the table view you at the moment.

a.) Rocks. If people see you as a rock you can bluff like noone else, you'll get a ton of respect when you bet on all streets. The downside is that you can't bluff very often (obviously).

b.) Tight players. With a tight image you can bluff pretty ok, but the problem is that you will often have to bluff on something that looks good on a tight player. Like a flopped high card (which is icky because...hey...someone else might have it). And those boards/situations will often have hit other players at the table. Tight players can often bluff the turn with great success though.

c.) LAGs. Lags don't really bluff that well because people don't really think they have anything. Lags just get away with it when nobody else has anything or the others are weak players. But on funky boards like 4697 a lag will get a ton of respect. The strength of the lag is that they can bluff more often than anyone else, so they get to pick on the weak players alot.

d.) Loose. Loose players bluffers can bluff very well, but it has to look plausible. Check/raising the third of a suit on the turn or a when that third 6 falls on the river.

4. The good stuff: Bluffing different streets. When/how/why.

a.) Preflop. Bluffing preflop is mostly blindstealing, somewhat more rarely a raise to fold limpers, rarest of all is when you are trying to bluff a raiser/re-raiser. Preflop is a street where people will generally give good credit for strength, so bluffing here can be very fun but also dangerous. Many cards are on the come and loose players might just call you to see a flop even if they actually do credit you with strength, and when the flop comes alot of players will 'forget' your preflop show and your imaginary aces might be no good against mr.I luv my hand who flopped top pair with his 9To. So when you bluff preflop you mostly want to be up against relatively tight players who'll fold hands like ATo to a raise and/or people who pay attention and will consider your preflop raise when they decide what to do on later streets. Bluffing preflop is something you'll mostly do then to take down the pot or buy you leverage.

b.) Flop. The flop is the bitchiest round to bluff because alot of people will feel comitted and a couple of cards are on the come and will give courage to loose players might take some weird draw with them down on the road, also two cards to come might give tight players the guts they need to re-raise your sorry behind with their missed overs if they suspect something, which they often will because the flop is the 'weak man's place to bluff', it will feel very comfortable to bluff here because the pot is rather small.

Also pot odds often favour draws with two cars to come, so bluff betting size often have to be somewhat large in relation to the bet (which will ofcourse make bluffing less profitable).

The flop is an ok street to bluff laggy players, this often where their junk will have hit nothing (or alot, which will happen sometimes) and continuing in the hand might seem hopeless to them. Ofcourse, we don't bluff psychos, but you'll actually find that alot of loose aggressive players are weak players at heart when the going gets tough (there are many exceptions ofcourse).

The flop is also where you'll usually float a player: Let's say your playing mr. rock who probably doesn't re-raise with high aces OOP. When he re-raises you preflop and an ace flops floating the flop is probably a good move, since he probably has AA,KK or QQ and the last two are most likely and he might give up on the turn. Floating the flop will look like an ace wondering if his questionable kicker is any good. He'll probably be cursing alot and wonder why those donks always call his KK/QQ with 'any damn ace!'.

Respect flops which are likely to have hit your opponent.

c.) The turn is without doubt my absolute favourite street to bluff. It's the street where TAGs are praying for their hand to hold up and where the LAGs are playing catch up. The pot is often juicy but not to big and a scarecard hitting the turn is THE horror of most hold'em players because now they are facing two betting rounds to see a showdown. In other words, this is the place to be when you're bluffing. Turn raises get alot of respect and the betting actions on previous rounds tend to dawn on people here. Just make sure it looks good. Ask yourself what would a player like yourself do with a strong hand/a hand he thinks might be best here.

Don't check the turn and expect to bluff the river succesfully alot.

d.) The river. The river is really a no-brainer street to bluff on, but also where alot of players won't bluff because the pot may often be big and no cards can save them. It just has to looks good. Let's say you semi-bluffed 65s on a flop of 47A. Obviously if you have hit nothing you HAVE to bluff now, this was one of the reasons you semi-bluffed in the first place, you repped the ace, bought yourself leverage and you absolutely can't check now and let a queen high missed flushdraw take down the pot.

Ofcourse, if the pot went check/check/check and a deuce fell on the river, well...bluffing isn't wrong but if your hand has showdown value like a pocket pair or a big high card you might actually not be bluffing (betting might still be clever, but this article is not about that).

Often it is best to make a bet on the turn in passive pots as opposed to one big river bet. It'll look alot more like a semi-strong hand betting for some value. Ofcourse..._raising_ a river bet in a check/check pot is all good, since it'll actually look like you have something and alot of the time your opponent won't have a hand that looks good against a raise.

The river is a case of the more hopeless your hand is the more appealing it is to bluff (within reason ofcourse, I'm not telling you to autobet the river because you're holding 32o high).

Let's take an example of a 'tough' river bet some players won't do, but unquestionably a profitable one. Let say you flopped an open-ended straight draw on the button. You called the flop bet, the turn bet and now you missed but the third spade fell on the river. Your opponent bets. Well, obviously this is an excellent place to put in a nicely sized raise. Something that looks on the high end of a flush betting for value. Why not push? Well, if a push seems plausible based on stacksizes then go for it, but IF you overbet on a bluff you have to be incredibly certain it will be successfull. Yes, you'll often make them fold, but also lose more money when they don't. Obviously you won't bluff if you don't have enough chips left to make a raise that matters.

If your opponent checks the river in a situation like this, beware! Some players like to check/call the river in situations like this in order to get a showdown, esp. against loose or players with a 'bluffy' image. It's abit more common in FL but you'll find them in NL too.

6. Bet size
It's no denying it, alot of bluffing in NL will go through because the bet size is uncomfortable. If your AK miss and rocky rock makes 3/4 pot raise with air, your hand probably doesn't look that good anymore. Needless to say then a bluff bet has to walk the fine balance between scary and profitable while still looking as though you have something legitimate. Also on a _pure_ bluff that reeks of a bluff (yes you can get away with those), don't leave your opponent with say...10 bucks out of a 100 that he'll shove in with his missed AQo.

Remember that pot bet bluffs have to win 1 out of 2 times to break even (and that's not even counting the rake!) and overbets/pushes have to win even more. Therefore _great_ care has to be made when bluffing with such big bets!

Remember that good Hold'Em players will consider what odds you are laying them when you bluff (and hence should be bluffed more sparingly), whereas bad Hold'Em players will often just consider the amount you are laying down and not consider the pot size. . These bad players are very easy to locate, just look at the players who frequently have bet sizes which does not relate to the pot very well. Against these players you should not bluff in small pots, but you should frequently bluff in big pots. The reason being that bluff sizes have to be too large in small pots to be profitable, but you can get away with very favourable bluff sizes in big pots.

A special case is also when you are bluffing a very aggressive player with a hand where you can't call a raise. Often this will become a race to being 'the first person all-in'. You should avoid overbetting to get all-in here, and instead go for check-raising/raising the bluff so you can be the player to 'cap' the betting and (hopefully) forcing a fold out of the other player. These are the toughest bluffing spots and you should definitively think twice before entering into this position.

7. Time
The best bluffs often require some time to ponder. Therefore it is important to get into the habit of making most of your poker decisions in a pretty laidback pace. I'm not saying to be an annoying staller, but get into the habit of examining the board and using some time on most of your poker decisions. This way a bluff won't look any different from other moves you make at the table.

8. Players in the pot.
The more players there are in the pot, the less you should bluff and the less you should bluff in early position. Remember that a button bluff will always look as a bluff and taking a stab in the cut-off will look much more like you actually have a nice hand.

9. Outs
I won't go into detail on how outs affect the balance of a bluff as that is actually a very, very advanced subject and as play grow more advanced a NL player will be almost defined by how well he semi-bluffs. What is interesting for us is that when you have outs that means you will sometimes win the pot even if called, which incidentally also means your opponent doesn't have to fold as much for this to be a profitable play. In poker terms your equity in the pot rises. What does this mean for the bluffer? Well, it mean that big overbets and pushes aren't really that bad. The more outs you have the less you lose on betting big. Ofcourse as always the same golden rule of bluffing applies, the less you have to bet to win the pot on a bluff - the more profitable it is.

Let's use an example, let's say we have an openended straightflush draw with our 65s versus our opponent's overpair. If we see all cards to the river we win this pot about 50% of the time and lose it 50% of the time. So if we push we aren't losing money (over the long haul), it's bascially a 0EV play...but we have made a tough call for our opponent, and if he folds we earn the pot. See what this semibluff does? Pushing doesn't cost you anything if your opponent calls but you make money if he folds. Ofcourse, we will not always have such good draws, so when our equity is less than 50% we need our opponent to fold some of the time to make pushing on a semibluff profitable. This returns us to the other parts of bluffing this guide covers, find a weak opponent, who probably only has a medium strength hand etc. and go for the jugular. Semibluffing is great fun, but be warned...it will make for a higher variance as you'll sometimes lose and win big pots. Also note that playing draws for hitting them and winning alot of money afterwards may be superior at times to trying to semibluff, so us this with care.

Note that when you semibluff on the turn you less of a chance to make your hand, this means your chance of making your hand is less and hence you need a greater chance of your opponent folding the turn or river if you don't improve for it to be profitable to semibluff with big bets.

10. The bluffing decision:

1. Your opponent:
The more he folds the more you bluff.
The more likely he is to have weak hands the more you bluff.
2. Number of opponents in the pot.
The more opponents the less you should bluff.
3. Position
The worse your position the more your bluff will look like you have a hand, but you also face a greater risk of bumping into a good hand.
4. Your image:
The more you are seen as bluffing the less you bluff.
5. The board.
The more likely it is to have hit you the more you bluff.
The more likely it is to have missed your opponent the more you bluff.
6. Your hand.
The more outs you have the more you can bluff.
7. Pot size.
The bigger they are the more we want them, but more care must be taken.
8. Stack size.
Your opponent must have something to lose by continuing in the hand.
9. Bet size.
Find the balance between scary, plausible and profitable.

Ofcourse, you don't have to go through an enormous 'check-list' each time you bluff. Some bluffs are simple, some are more advanced.

11. Fixed Limit
It is harder to bluff in FL, but this is made up for in the fact that the bet sizes are smaller effectively offering you better odds for bluffing. if the pot is 40$ and a 10$ bluff can buy you the pot, you'll break even if you win the pot 1 out of 5 times. Hence don't be discouraged when you get called and lose, you can do this a good number of times. In FL you should be careful about bluffing loose players, and you semibluff it is ok to do it with high card bluffs (say an ace-high flushdraw), this way you'll have some showdown value and can also spike your overcard outs for the win. Don't be afraid to get away from a bluff gone sour.

12. Tournaments.
Tournament bluffing is often about survival. You use the threat of elimination/hit to the stack to scare of your opponents from calling. In lower stakes short time span tournaments you'll (in my experience) often not have a much fold equity against opponents with made hands. Bluffing is generally best around the bubble. Stacksize and potsize matter alot in tournaments and people will often be far more comitted than they would be in a ring game. I won't dvelve into this, as I am not much of a tournament player.

Well that's it, hope you found it atleast to be interesting.