Cyber Bluffing
Many people associate the game of poker with bluffing; however you need to be careful when playing online poker as cyber bluffing does not work nearly as well as bluffing in the local card room. When you play online, you cannot read your opponents eyes or their body language and you can’t chat to your opponent to try to get information out of them. Some players make the mistake of bluffing too much in online poker and then find that it is not working. Many online players are beginners so they tend to be less aware of what is going on in the game and less attuned to bluffing. In addition, when playing online your opponents tend to change more often so it can be difficult to develop a feel for the other players around the table.
Reasons for Bluffing
There are good reasons to bluff when playing poker. If you never bluff when you hold bad cards, then when you hold good cards, you will get no calls. It is important to keep your opponents on their toes so that they cannot read your cards through your actions.
The Best Options for Cyber Bluffing
When you are playing online poker, the best time for bluffing is when the game is short handed or when you are playing high limit games. Bluffing in low limit games does not tend to work as well when playing online. Don’t bluff big chip stacks. These players have spare chips to absorb their losses and are more likely to call. Those with short chip stacks, on the other hand are protecting their stacks and are more likely to back off when challenged. In general, you should only use bluffing at a tight table. If there are loose players at the table, wait for them to fold before you bluff. Don’t try to bluff too many people at once. Your aim with bluffing is to get everyone to fold and the more players still in the game; the harder it will be to do that.
Build Up your Image Before you Bluff
Before you start bluffing at a table, you must build up your image. If you bluff often and play loose and wild poker, strong players will call your bluffs. There is a higher chance of you holding weak cards than strong cards so if you bluff too often with weak cards, your bluffs will have no strength. On the other hand, if you build up an image as a strong player who discards weak cards then when you do bluff the other players will assume you are holding strong cards and will fold. If you have the right image, you can use bluffing to really rattle your opponents.