subject: Backing Off A Good Bluff When You Need To [print this page] Backing Off A Good Bluff When You Need To
So your bluff did not work, and now you are faced with an all-in check raise from a slightly tight player. You know what you've got to do. Even though it's against your inbuilt instinct to back off, sometimes you just got to do it. A standard situation is when you're the first to enter a pot and come to a decision to raise it up because you have got some paint cards. The enormous blind calls you and both of you see a ragged flop. Typically, he's going to check to you, the aggressor in a hand.
If he does, this is a pretty standard play for you to make a continuation bet. Typically this means about half to three quarters of the pot, and often the play will stop right there. But what if it does not? Occasionally your opposition will call your continuation bet. He's offering you position with his call, however on a ragged low card flop, you've got to invariably keep in mind these are precisely the hands your opposition could have called you with. Of course you don't know that, as he might've called you with an ace king and have your king and queen dominated.
The improtant thing to say here is he did call you. Now, you can expect a few things from this call like, he does have a really good hand whether or not that be from help from the flop or him slow playing you, it actually doesn't matter. He might also think you are a shy enough opponent, to be arranging a bet or check raise on the turn or river. He could simply be playing on the supposition that this flop completely missed your high cards, and you cannot afford to make this pot grow with an ace high hand. He might also just be playing with a low pair, or draw.
Now, reckoning on your opponent's profile, you might want to three bet him if he raises you, but that ordinarily means a very large pot in an exceedingly questionable situation. This is something you truly must consider as to be a pricy situation long-term. In simple language if you do not have the balls or the cards to bet out on the turn or brook, then you may likely be reconciled to announcing to yourself, "that's's all I'm going to put into this hand, I'll have to check it down or fold".
Giving up on a hand, or folding to someone who has turned the aggression around on you is one of the toughest plays to make apropos managing your own weak points. This is just because we are in battle with a human tendency to guard oneself and struggle for survival. Folding a hand, is more intimately associated to feeling like a yellow belly, not a fighter.
So backing away from a bluff never makes you feel good , but for competitors who understand that it is simply a worked out move and really has zip to do with your personality or character, will be well placed to walk away unharmed - at least emotionally. The strong, experienced players will be well placed to patiently wait for a better opportunity. Weaker players, on the other hand may have an axe to grind about having to fold, and can be leaning towards tilt after merely a single hand.
Raising is not an issue in poker, it's essentially a required trait of winners, but having to fold in certain spots is just as vital.
