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he Guardian Poker Column |
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Victoria
Coren |
Friday February 3, 2006
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How to play poker (How to play has been running from issue 16) |
Last week I talked about the general principle of
bluffing: that a good player is not just randomly betting with nothing, but
representing a particular hand. To show you exactly what I mean, let's look at
some specific examples. Regular readers will know that I advocate entering the
pot with a decent hand in the first place. For the purposes of this week's
exercise, let's assume, in all the following situations, that your hand is a
pair of fours. This is not a brilliant hand, but it's often a playable
one.
Situation one: You raise before the flop. You may be in
front with a pair, and you want to take control of the action. The flop comes
AK5. You've missed it completely. But you follow up your pre-flop raise with a
bet. You are saying (untruthfully): "I raised because I have a strong ace in my
hand. This flop is good for me."
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Situation two: Someone else raises
before the flop, and you call in the hope of hitting a third four. The flop
comes AK5. The pre-flop raiser bets out. You raise. You are saying: "I called
you with an ace in my hand. If you've got a smaller pair, you are now losing.
Throw it away."
Situation three: The flop comes AK5 with two
clubs on it. You bet out as a bluff, but get called. This doesn't look good;
now you're really praying for that third four on the turn. But the turn card is
the jack of clubs. Rather than weakly check and pass (which would of course be
the safest play), you could now have another go and bet again. You are saying:
"I bet the flop with a flush draw. I have now made a flush."
These are
three simple bluffing scenarios to illustrate the basic principle: if you're
trying to steal a pot, make sure you are representing a particular hand which
you think is winning. And you have to bluff like you mean it, but don't get too
stubborn. Be alert to the main danger: if you get raised or reraised, consider
the possibility that your opponent has actually got the hand you're
representing.
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