Thu, 09/15/2011 – 07:24 – PokerPages Staff

When playing online poker at PokerStars or any other site, you will come across players who will bluff. In fact, bluffing is a big part of the game of poker. Knowing how to do it effectively is a very useful skill to have and perhaps yet more useful, is the ability to spot when somebody else is bluffing. Players will bluff to try to achieve one of two objectives. They will either try to make you think they have worse cards than they actually hold, or that they have better cards.

Negative Bluffers

When somebody is trying to convince his opponent that his hand is worse than it actually is, he can be said to be bluffing negatively. He may do this by taking an overly long time to place his bets, or checking the bet if he has the opportunity. Players who act quickly and opt to slow the pace can also indicate spots of negative bluffing. A good way to test the water with these players is to raise when you get the opportunity. A player with no hand will back out, whereas a player with a good hand will keep going.

Bluffing Positively

Almost the opposite, is the player who will place a big bet to give the impression that he has a better hand than he actually does. This aggressive tactic is designed to try to put other players off playing, especially if the cards he holds are somewhat weak. Test a positive bluffer’s mettle by raising when it’s your turn, to see what their reaction is.

For more advice on tactics, visit PokerSchoolOnline.

Tue, 08/16/2011 – 10:21 – PokerPages Staff

As a beginner poker player, bet sizing can be one of the hardest aspects of the game to get to grips with. In order to win as well as you can, you need to be able to place good bets. It’s an important aspect to all types of no limit poker.

When placing bets, you need to think of them in relation to how big the pot currently is. This is due to the fact that your poker bets will dictate what your opponent’s pot odds are. If they then call with incorrect odds, you make a profit.

The general rule is if you have a good hand and think that the other players have bad hands you should bet about ¾ of the pot. This is because by doing so you give your opponents wrong pot odds, which means you win more money.

It’s not advantageous to bet half the pot or less, because a weak bet usually means that you lose value on your hands and risk being outdrawn by the other players. However, if you think that this won’t happen and that your opponents will call a smaller bet, you can risk it.

A major mistake, which can be made by a beginner poker player, is making minimum bets and raises. If you do this before a flop, most players will call you. It’s always safer to make strong bets or just not bet.

For more advice visit PokerSchoolOnline – the Internet’s #1 poker education website. Or, to put your betting skills to the test for free, go to PokerStars.net.