Advanced Strategy - Bluffing in Texas Holdem

A bluff definition – when you are sure that your hand is not the best hand at the showdown or has no value before the showdown than betting is a bluff.

When to bluff – if you think you will succeed in making the other players fold in a higher proportion of the situations than the odds the amount in the pot is offering you, you should bluff, for example, if the pot is 20$ and your bet is 5$, if you think that you take the pot more than 20% of the times you should bluff.
Try to get caught bluffing once in a while to vary your game and image, but on the other hand, don’t show off with your bluffs too much, it makes your opponent’s attention focused on how to beat you.

Important things to consider before bluffing:
1. Knowing your opponents is the most important consideration you should take – are they capable of folding, what is their game style, what is your image at the table, has any of your opponents got bluffed lately.
2. Reading hands and poker tells – if you are capable of analyzing the previous actions in this hand or saw something that can make you think your opponent is weak, go ahead and bluff, check for strength moves pre and after the flop, check for other psychological tells before you decide weather to bluff or not.
3. Look at the size of the pot – if the pot is big and your opponents are committed to it, your chance of success are small.
4. Look at the board – if the community cards are Jd, Td 9h you shouldn’t bluff because most of the chances are that someone is holding a hand that is worth paying, on the other hand, if the board is Ks, 8d, 2h it’s probably a good signal for a bluff.
5. Look at your opponents stack – if one of the opponents is short stacked compared to the pot size he will probably call your bluff, on the other hand, if you have a marginal hand and think that the short stacked opponent is weaker than you, making a bluff could be quite a smart move because even if a good player thinks you’re bluffing he knows that the shorted stack is going to pay you which makes it harder for him to call.
6. Your image – sometimes it’s a smart move to bluff even if the pot odds don’t justify it, if you want to make it harder for your opponents to read your game later on. Sometimes it’s a smart move not to bluff too much if you want to preserve your tight image and bluff only when the pot is big and due to your tight image you think no one will call.
7. How many opponents still in the game – as the number of opponents is bigger your chances of taking the pot falling.

Example: the flop is Kh, 9h 3d, the turn is 7s and the river is 4h bluffing against one opponent when taking the previous consideration mentioned is probably a good move no matter what are your cards.

Another example of a natural bluff is when the board got paired and you think the chances of someone having that card is relatively small.