Bluffing in Low Stakes Holdem

Bluffing in low stakes Texas Holdem is definitely something that happens too often. Bluffing tends to get glorified on television by outrageous plays that work out in the heavily cut World Series of Poker broadcast on ESPN. New poker players playing low stakes Texas Holdem tend to feel they can bluff too many hands and this is a big mistake in their poker game. In fact in low stakes Holdem poker players should only bluff in a handful of situations and making bluffs on multiple streets should almost never be attempted. This is not to say that there is no place to bluff multiple streets in Texas Holdem poker, just not very often in low stakes Texas Holdem.

When playing low stakes Holdem poker players must understand that their opponents are not thinking players. This means that they wont take a lot of factors into account such as aggression and the story a poker player has told with there bets. In fact most low stakes Texas Holdem players don’t adapt their game and simply play the strength of their own cards.

For bluffing this means that many complex bluffs cannot be carried out. Two barrel bluffs and three barrel bluffs are not advisable to do in low stakes Texas Holdem games. Many low stakes players will try and carry out these bluffs but the truth is it’s a leak in their game. Poker players can start to put more complex bluffs into their game at around $50/$1 stakes because the skill of their opponents start to go up.

Now a type of bluff that a poker player can carry out frequently at low stakes Texas Holdem is the continuation bet. A continuation bet is a bet on the flop that continues pre flop aggression. For instance if a poker player raises pre-flop and a flop comes that doesn’t hit his hand he can fire out a bet called a continuation bet to continue his representation of strength that he made pre-flop. Continuation betting works because a opponent rarely hit’s the flop with his calling hands.

Betting out after a pre-flop raise will take the hand very often if an opponent doesn’t hit the flop. Low stakes poker players will rarely start to play back because they simply play their hand and not their opponents. This means that each continuation bet a poker player makes is a profitable bet. In low stakes Texas Holdem games poker players can actually bet close to 100% of flops profitable and simply shut down if they get called or get played back at with a re-raise. Player’s must shut down their bluff if their continuation bet is called because a poker opponent calling a bet on the flop most likely has some sort of hand that he probably cannot be bluffed on. Even by shutting down when an opponent calls continuation betting is a very profitable play.

When a poker player feels that they are playing against a more adept poker opponent it then becomes the time to start considering making more complicated bluffs.