Calling On the Flop to Set Up a Bluff
Posted on Mayo 5, 2008
Filed Under Poker News
There may have come a time when you watched a poker tournament on television and saw the following: Player A, who raised before the flop, holds something like Ks Ts and bets into a flop of 9d 9s 3c. Player B inexplicably calls with 6h 7h. The announcer explains, “He’s calling to try to take the pot away later in the hand.” What’s this all about? How can the player with the 6h 7h possibly expect to win? What is happening is that Player B is setting up his bluff.
How Poker Bluffs Work
A bluff in poker should not be thought of as a bet with a bad hand so much as a bet that your opponent is weak, or that the flop did not hit the opponent. The player who called with 67 suited was probably hoping to catch a well-disguised straight, two pair or flush. That didn’t happen. However, the flop that came is a scary flop for a pre-flop raiser. A player with a nine now has an extremely strong hand. Due to the pre-flop action, the size or nature of Player A’s flop bet, or just the fact that the flop is unlikely to have hit the pre-flop raiser (since there are only two nines that can be in the hands of the players and Player A would not only have to have one but to have decided to raise with it), Player B sees a bluffing opportunity. If he is a strong player, he is not calling off his chips with the hope of hitting something like a running straight, but rather to bluff Player A off the hand on a subsequent street.
Why Set up the Bluff? Why Not Raise Right Away?
A good bluff considers what the opponent is likely to think you have. If Player A is savvy, he may realize that you know that the flop probably missed him. If he bets and you raise immediately, he is likely to suspect a bluff. Why? Consider how you would play if you really had a hand like A9. Would you raise right away and risk losing an aggressively betting opponent? Probably not. In most cases, you would simply call and let Player A put even more chips in on the turn, then you might raise if you thought the turn card was threatening. This is the idea behind the call to set up the bluff. Flat calling the flop and then check-raising or raising the turn or river makes it seem much more likely that you are trying to build a pot with a strong hand, rather than trying to chase away your opponent.
What Are the Downsides to Calling to Set up A Bluff?
First, there is the chance that your opponent really has the hand that they are representing and cannot be bluffed. In addition, it is possible that after you call the flop, a turn card can come that will give the bettor a strong hand, for example, on the 9 9 3 flop, your opponent bets out with 8 8, you call and an 8 comes on the turn. Finally, if you habitually call and then raise the turn when the board is scary, your observant opponents may catch on. However, if you mix up your play and use your own observational skills to assess your opponent’s strength correctly, calling the flop to set up a bluff on a later street can be a very effective play.
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