Bluffing on the river can pay off

Bluffing on the river isn’t a mainstay of small ball poker, but there are situations when it does make sense.

The best targets for bluffing on the river are the smart players at the table who think they have you all figured out. These are the players who pay attention and notice that when you enter a pot, you usually have the best hand, especially when you’re willing to put your money in on the river.

One of the most important aspects of running a successful bluff is the ability to read your opponent’s hand. Unless you can figure out the strength of his hand, you simply won’t know when your bluff will work.

You see, the best bluffers are players that can sense weakness. That’s the time for a bluffer to make a believable play that their opponents will buy.

Another element to selling a river card bluff is the size of your bet. A bluff on the river should represent exactly what a value bet would look like. If you make a bet that’s too small, your opponent just might make a loose call because you’ve given him the right price. On the other hand, a bet that’s too big may raise suspicions.

So, make your bluff bet look like you are doing everything possible to get your opponent to call!

Here’s an example from a recent World Series of Poker Europe event.

With the blinds at 1,200/2,400, Gus Hansen made it 6,000 to go under the gun. Gus had a monster stack and was playing to form, raising pots from every position with a wide variety of hands. I also had a decent stack and called from the button with Jw-9w.

The flop came Kx-10v-5v and Gus fired out 8,000. Knowing Gus, this didn’t necessarily mean that he had a strong hand. I decided to represent a powerful hand myself and made a 22,000 bet; I was hoping he’d fold.

Gus thought for quite a while, making me think he had a hand like A-Q or A-J, but eventually called the raise.

The 4v hit on the turn and we both checked. I thought a bet here would be too suspicious as Gus knows that I’m not likely to raise on the flop with a flush draw.

The river was a blank, the 8w.

Gus checked again. After my acting job on the turn – I was trying to sell a hand like K-Q – I decided to try and take this pot away from Gus because it looked like he couldn’t beat a king. I nonchalantly threw out a bet that looked like it was screaming for a loose call. I bet 20,000 despite putting in a raise of 22,000 on the flop!

Gus thought for a bit and then folded what I presumed was an ace high.

The main lesson is that all the facts of any hand must be considered well before you decide to try a bluff on the river. Never throw in an idle bluff bet just because you’re thinking, “Well, I can’t win the pot if I check.”

For a bluff to work, all the facts of the hand need to make sense, and you’ve got to make the right size bet, too.

As a general rule, bluffs should mimic your value bets. A bluff bet of about 50 to 75 percent of the pot usually makes sense on the river. But remember, the bet size you ultimately choose is dependent on how you think your opponent perceives you and what you think will work playing against him.

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