Why is catching Bluff so important in poker?

First we need to understand what is bluff in poker, how is it done and the connection between poker and bluff. In the poker card game when a player makes a bet in spite of having poor cards is called bluffing. The motive behind bluffing is to provoke atleast one opponent with better cards to fall back. While bluffing the player not only fakes his moves but also imitates a false expression on his face, so that he can mislead his opponent and make him act in a desired way.

The bluffer should know the thoughts of his opponent to be able to bluff successfully and form a game plan for winning. The player should follow few tips to Bluff intelligently in poker. Like-

  1. The player should not bluff on many hands, rather he should save it for selective hands which would increase his chances of winning.
  2. It is safe to bluff when the betting is going on a stable trend.
  3. Bluffing is good when there is a pair on board.
  4. Avoid bluffing when you are new in poker game. Get some experience before you start to bluff in poker.
    Bluff catching is not an easy task.Bluff catching could be very influential and profitable move if you are observant and have the skill set to utilize the bluff. In low stake game, bluff catching will be more profitable as there would be many loose-aggressive opponents with high bluffing tendencies.

Catching bluff is important because you happen to lose the game not due to bad or poor cards but your opponent’s bluffing. A bluff-catcher is a methodology which is not powerful enough as compared to a betting style but can win only when the opponent player is bluffing.

There are few principals of bluff catching and tips to win poker by avoiding being bluffed:

  1. The most important principal of catching bluffs is to think and calculate the profitability of the call. The easiest way to do so is to calculate by dividing the bet your opponent has made by total pot after calling.
  2. If your hand looks weak to the opponent there are bigger chances of him to attack your weakness by bluffing. Thereby you become more inclined towards bluff catching.
  3. If your opponent has either very strong hand or very weak one, then your actual hand does not have much value and the chances of you catching bluffs with weaker value hands is higher as you become more observant to the game play.
  4. Some players are forced to bluff more to win a pot that play wide and weak range. Often they have to lure their opponent players to fold to win as they lack natural hand strength. So your chances to catching bluffs increases with such loose players.

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