Inducing Bluffs

When you have a strong hand but you know your opponent doesn’t have anything at all, all hope of you getting paid isn’t lost. No matter what the situation in poker is, there’s always a way to extract money from your strong hands. When your opponents are weak, you can’t make value bets because they won’t be called. Instead, you can induce bluffs.

The Slowplay

Not only do slowplays work to make your opponents feel more confident about their marginal hands but slowplays can also induce bluffs from opponents who don’t have anything at all.

Slowplays work great in certain circumstances but you don’t want to get into the habit of slowplaying too often. There are two risks you assume when slowplaying a hand: the chance that you give your opponents the free cards they need to make better hands and the chance that you miss out on making value bets that would have been called.

The Check on the River

If you suspect your opponent was on a draw and the draw doesn’t complete by the river, you can check instead of bet to induce a bluff. You won’t get any value by betting because your opponent will just fold his missed draw.

Instead, you can check to your opponent and hope he tries to bluff his missed draw. This isn’t a guaranteed way to get more money but it at least gives you the chance to make money with your hand. If you’re reasonably sure your opponent was on a draw, you should check on the river to induce a bluff.

Inducing Bluffs before the Flop

One fun way to induce bluffs is to make small bets with strong hands before the flop. This is best used when you are in late position and it has been folded around to you. If you have a strong hand and want to generate some action, you can make a small raise before the flop to make it look like you’re trying to steal the blinds.

Occasionally this will get your opponents to make a preflop re-raise. When that happens, you can just call the re-raise and check on the flop. With the big pot sitting out there and you looking weak, there’s a pretty good chance your opponent will take another stab at the pot.

You have to be careful when playing like this, however, because it gives your opponents a chance to hit real hands. This move is best used with top hands like AA, KK and sometimes QQ. It helps a lot to use this move against opponents with whom you’re familiar.

Summary

Inducing bluffs is a great poker tactic but you have to be very selective in its use or you could easily end up missing out on lots of value bets. Inexperienced poker players can easily get stuck in this fancy play syndrome where they try to induce bluffs left and right instead of making value bets. Trust me; I still catch myself occasionally trying to induce bluffs when I should be making value bets.

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The Slap-a-Clown Move
Value Betting the River