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HoldEm poker, like any other poker variant out there in the casinos (both online and offline, mind you), is a game that centers squarely on psychology. You need not only to be able to predict what your opponent is going to do with their HoldEm hand, but force them into doing things that probably aren’t advantageous to their strategy. And one of the biggest chips you have in your pile is the ability to bluff in HoldEm poker. Do it properly and you should be able to get away with an awful lot, just so long as you don’t try it too often.
There are two bluffs, pure and semi. In pure bluffs you have an awful hand and that’s it: you’re just playing the other players and hoping they buy your act. In the Holdem semi bluff, however, you actually do have a few cards that could make for a decent hand – so long as the proper cards turn up in the community pool.
You need to have the potential for a flush or a straight flush or whatever – at least the potential – for this to work. Then you can start betting big and see what your opponent does. Be careful, though: you need to know the other player inside and out before you try something like this. So before you try your bluff spend several poker hands getting used to their strategy. This is easy to do both online and off: you just need to fold on a few HoldEm hands and then keep a close eye on everybody. Identify what they do. This is especially easy on online poker as you can review the hands afterwards and see how everybody reacts to bets.
If the person you’re up against likes to fold a lot, then it might be advantageous to go for this bluff. The less inclined they are to take a stand the more likely you are to succeed in your bluff. If they’re stick-to-their-guns type Holdem poker players, however, reconsider this bluff. The chances of getting that last elusive card aren’t very high, after all.
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