Inducing Bluffs at Lower Limits

Poker Strategy / Short-Stacked Shamus / 22 September 2011 / Leave a Comment

As a general rule, those of us sitting at the lower-limit tables are much less likely to “wow” you by taking overly creative or deceptive lines.

I enjoy playing all games. I favor pot-limit Omaha, limit hold'em, and no-limit hold'em, both cash and tourneys. And I stick primarily to the smaller stakes thanks to my "short-stacked" status. (Or mindset, but that's a different issue.)

Since I'm generally playing at lower limits, I often find myself surrounded by mostly straightforward players who tend to bet when they have it, check or fold when they don't, and generally avoid the sort of complicated "leveling" one finds at the middle- or higher-limit tables.

Of course, there are exceptions. Among these straightforward types will appear the non-folders (who call everything), the crazies (who raise everything), and others who usually distinguish themselves pretty quickly by their conspicuously different approach. And sometimes I will encounter genuinely crafty players at the lower limits -- especially in online poker -- who are able to employ styles less simple to decipher.

But as a general rule, those of us sitting at the lower-limit tables are much less likely to "wow" you by taking overly creative or deceptive lines.

That distinction (and/or disclaimer) is important to make, I think, before talking about inducing bluffs at lower limits. I say that because while the notion of trying to get your opponent to bet a weaker hand is perhaps familiar even to new players, what we're really talking about is a relatively advanced or "fancy" play. The fact is, at the lower limits -- where "ABC" poker is the norm -- the play is rarely used. And when it is tried, it is often ineffective, usually costing players bets rather than gaining them.

To give a quick example from limit hold'em, say you pick up Jc-Js in late position. A couple of players limp, you raise, the button cold-calls, and both limpers call as well. The four of you see a flop come Jd-8c-2h, giving you a handsome set of jacks. It checks to you and you bet, the button calls, and the others fold. The turn is the 4h. Again you bet, and your opponent once more calls.

The river is the 2c, improving your hand to jacks full. It's a small-stakes game, and your opponent hasn't made any plays to suggest he's anything but a straightforward player. His calls on the flop and turn probably add up to a couple of overcards, a couple of hearts, or both. He could also have an eight, a middle or lower pocket pair, or perhaps even the case jack.

Checking to induce a bluff here is almost never going to earn you an extra big bet, and in fact will sometimes lose you one.

You've taken the lead on every street prior to the river. Thus when you check, it is very unlikely he's going to bluff-bet with his Kd-Qc or 10h-9h or Ac-7s. And if he did happen to catch any of that board, say with an eight or four in his hand, or if he has a pocket pair, he's checking those hands down, too -- hands with which he probably would've called if you had bet the river.

In the "big bet" games (no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha), similar scenarios will arise sometimes at the lower limits in which you find yourself heads-up against an opponent who might well take up your invitation to bluff at a river when there's no chance for him to win the hand otherwise. If an opponent calls you down on that same Jd-8c-2h-4h-2c board while you are holding your monster hand, you might be in a situation where checking the river will gain some extra chips when your opponent makes what would have to be regarded a fairly transparent bluff on the end.

That said, generally speaking, it still isn't such a good policy to be trying to induce bluffs at the lower limits. If the guy has been calling you all of the way like that, it is much more likely he'll call one more bet on the river with a weaker hand than for him to bet his weaker hand when you check. So bet.

Setting all of those disclaimers aside, then, there are still spots where even at the lower limits inducing bluffs can sometimes work. However, before you try it, ask yourself whether or not your opponent -- whom you know is sitting there with a weaker hand -- would call if you were to bet.

If you are absolutely sure he'll fold to your river bet, then you have found a spot where inducing a bluff is your only way of earning more chips in the hand. But if there's a reasonable chance he'll call your river bet, you should probably bet. Unless you have some other information regarding your opponent -- say he happens to be one of those "crazies" who has shown a predilection for wild raises and bluffs -- only check your big hand if you think there's no way your opponent would call your river bet.

And then, just maybe, he'll bet. But you know, he probably won't.

Because let's face it, inducing a bluff is a fancy play. And if you think about it, it's only going to work if your opponent also decides to make what in the context of lower-limit poker is another fancy play (i.e., bluffing).

And, well, we lower-limit types... we just ain't that fancy.

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