The Way of Poker

Fear of Being Bluffed - a Powerful Exploit

I hate being A bluff is when someone makes a bet when they know they probably have a losing hand, to get you to fold what would probably have been the winning handbluffed out of a pot.
I also hate calling what I think is a bluff and finding out I'm wrong.
But how can I know if people are bluffing me or not??
There is no surefire way to know, but here is an exploit that will make it more likely to know...

One thing good pokers do is evaluate everyone else at the table as either good or bad candidates to bluff.
The ones they know not to bluff are the ones who call too much.
There is a common aphorism in poker, "Never bluff a A calling station is someone who calls with weak hands or draws when they are getting really poor oddscalling station."
So, you want to make people think you are a calling station. Ideally, you want to do this in a smaller pot against a player you think is capable of bluffing.

To exploit this, and also handle the two fears of folding when being bluffed or calling when not being bluffed, do this -

Go ahead and do the thing you are afraid of and call a A river bet is the very last bet of the handriver bet with a second or third best hand (like pocket tens when there is a Q and K on board) and make sure to show your hand first.

The result will be:

• If they were not bluffing, you will lose the pot (ideally you did this on a smaller pot so you don't pay too much for the exploit)
• If they were bluffing, you will win the pot (even better, you got the value of the exploit and the pot!)

But that is not the important result. The way more valuable result is:

Now everyone at the table who is paying attention will put you in the category of someone who calls too much.

In future hands, you still won't know for sure if they are bluffing, but now you know it's much less likely, and can fold with more confidence.