Prepare your bluffs like an artist

Anyone can win a pot with the better hand, but very few are skilled enough to deceive opponents by presenting their hand in such a manner that the bluff becomes successful. On the long run, you need to extract the most from your bluffs and instead of maximizing your winnings by increasing the frequency of bluffing, you should decrease the number of cases when you get caught. The bottom line is that a single bluff gone wrong can offset the winnings generated by a string of successful ones.

Two things are required for a player to become a bluff artist and these are the right poker image and a strong betting system. The reason for why these two factors are so important is that you need to be feared at the poker table and impossible to read by opponents. If they decide that you are an enigma that is not worth the effort and money lost to decipher, most players will let you be and stay out of those pots that you seem hell-bent on taking.

The power of accurate observation is even more significant at the poker table, where a good bluffer will take notice of everything that happens around him. The information extracted on the scene is just as important as the one accumulated over time and one needs to use it when weaving his own strategies, en route to becoming a fully fledged poker player.

Paying attention to the topics that are being discussed in the chat room, the players that get involved and the manner in which they present their case will help in profiling them. Even more important is to determine whether a player is a rock, a tight-aggressive one or a calling station. Depending on his attitude you’ll know when it is the best moment to bluff and which are the correct amounts. As a rule of a thumb, the ideal street to make a move is the turn, especially at lower limits where opponents are easy to confuse.

One thing that should always be on your mind is not to change the projected image over the course of a single hand. If you want to represent a high pocket pre-flop an on the turn, do not even think about inducing the idea that your flush draw was elevated to a draw on the turn. Stay cohesive and only take advantage of fleeting cards when you are confident that can read your opponent with pinpoint accuracy. Do not show your bluffs too often, unless you want to showcase a loose-aggressive image and always focus on taking down a pot early, instead of making a move on the river. You should bluff only if you think that you can control yourself, so other players will not realize that you are lying. The risk of making a bluff can save you, but it can either eliminate you from the tournament.