4 Rules of Bluffing at Low Stakes

We all love to pull off a nice bluff and win a pot with nothing don’t we but the truth is, bluffing at low stakes is not an easy endeavour. You need the right setup and right opponent for it to work. There’s no use doing wild bluff attempts all over the place. They just don’t work. This article will highlight the 4 rules of bluffing at low stakes, so you know how to increase your chances of success bluffs in the future.

Rule 1 – Don’t try to bluff the calling stations! Attack the tight players.

It seems obvious doesn’t it? Why would you try to get a calling station to fold? The clue is in the player type “calling”. These players are not prepared to fold top pair or even second pair hands so don’t waste your efforts trying to force them to fold. You make money from them by value betting thinly and over bet value betting. On the other hand, a tight player will respect your bets more. They are more inclined to fold reasonable hands when facing large or multiple bets.

Rule 2 – The flush or straight boards make for better bluffing opportunities…

Bluffing at low stakes isn’t easy. Players generally don’t like folding top pair hands. You need to work hard to convince them you have a better hand. This is made a lot easier when the board presents straights or flushes. Consider a board with 10-9-8-5-7. You have bet your hand down and read your opponent for a K-10 or A-10. This is a great spot to bluff as your opponent is far more inclined to fold now than on a 10-9-5-5-6 board.

Consider the board when making a bluff attempt. If a one pair hand is easily beat, your chances of a bluff working are much higher.

Rule 3 – Bet, check, bet doesn’t work…

I don’t know how better to title this rule. Let’s say you raise before the flop and are called. You go ahead and continuation and bet and been called. If you check back the turn, the chances of a successful bluff on the river is hurt significantly. Obviously, it depends on texture too but as a general rule, unless you get a great scare card to bluff at, give up on the river. Players at low stakes always consider this a weak line and will be happy to call river bets after you’ve checked back the turn. They know they don’t have further round of betting to show their hand down and almost consider it a victory when you’ve checked the turn, allowing them a free card.

Rule 4 – 3-Bet bluffs work well

Players at low stakes seem to give more respect to 3-bets than at higher stakes. Many do not conceive that you can have a weak or medium hand. As such, this provides great opportunities to steal pots pre flop or on the flop after they call. Remember, not all bluffs have to be river bets for a massive pot. A 3-bet bluff is a bluff too and one that can be used effectively at low stakes. My advice is to 3 bet bluff more in late position as it yields a high fold % from opponents and/or they fold post flop a lot of the time.

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