Online Poker Bluffing
You really need to be careful about online poker bluffing.
Bluffing in online poker just doesn’t work as well as it does in local cardrooms. There are no eyes to read in online poker, no twitching, and no talking to get information out of your opponent at the online poker table.
People like to bluff at the poker table because it is exciting but it just doesn’t hold the same appeal as it does in a local cardroom, and it doesn’t work nearly as well either. What you sometimes see is online poker players bluffing way too much. Online poker bluffing just doesn’t work very well in because too many people don’t understand your bluff or too many people will just call your hand.
The two main reasons to bluff in poker are to win the pot and to get action on your big hands in the future. What you need to remember is that if you don’t bluff at some pots with bad cards, when you get the good cards you won’t get any calls. We need to remember that online poker is different than live poker in a cardroom. Many players that play online poker are just not aware as much of what is going on. They may not even recognize your online poker bluffing. They could be doing numerous things that have them distracted.
Another problem with bluffing in online poker is that your opponents continually change and you don’t have enough time to really get a feel for other players. Combine this with the fact that many players on the Internet are new players, and you can see why bluffs just don’t work as well at the online poker table as they do at a local cardroom.
You should be aware that even though we know that bluffs don’t work as well with online poker, we still see them. We probably see too much of them. Players watch too much poker on TV and think that bluffing is the way to go. It is also easier to bluff online when you don’t have to put chips in the middle of the table or look at the other players. It is also easier to get carried away with your online chips, as opposed to chips in a casino. You will also see a lot more reckless calls online than you would in person. More players are likely to take a chance when you bluff and call you than they would at a local casino.
You must remember when bluffing that you don’t want any callers when you are bluffing. The best place to bluff when playing online poker is when the game is short-handed or perhaps in the higher limit games. In the low-limit games, online bluffing just doesn’t hold the appeal it does in person.
More Poker Strategies from Byron Badd:
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Byron Badd, Gambling911.com
Originally published April 15, 2007 12:47 pm ET
