Sat 19 Dec 2009
Becoming an advanced poker player requires lots of experience, lots of time on sites like Full Tilt, a thorough understanding of the mathematics involved with the game and the ability to apply many different strategies to almost every situation that arises. Each poker player has a playbook of plays and things that they can do in any given situation and can use them at their discretion. Some techniques are more advanced than others and knowing about them, even if you are unable to successfully utilize them, will help to prevent you from falling prey to them when other players use them.
One strategy that is utilized by more advanced players is the idea called the bluff-reraise. The idea is simple but using it effectively is an entirely different proposition. It involves re-raising a player when you are holding absolutely nothing. While this is very often a terrible idea, there are situations where re-raising when it is nothing more than a bluff can be beneficial to your play. One of the biggest reasons that players will do this is that it helps to mix up your play. Being predictable is the worst thing that you can be at the poker table because then all the people at the table know what you are doing so there is no secret to your play.
One of the best situations that you can use on any internet poker site is the bluff-reraise – when players are trying to steal your blinds. This is not advisable the first time that someone attempts to steal your blind but, after a couple of times, instead of giving up your blind, re-raise the person who raised into your blind. Often times in this situation, the player will fold to any aggression from the blinds but, in the case that they call, you should be willing to make a continuation bet on the flop and this will almost certainly push them out of the hand.
Another good situation to use this in is when you have been playing very tight for a decent amount of time and you have a tight table image. Having a tight table image is advantageous but only if you take advantage of it. The best thing to use your tight table image for is to get away with bluffs without running a high risk of being called. In the case that you have a tight table image, re-raising a raiser with nothing will give you a good equity return because the hand is, essentially, worthless and you are creating value out of a dead hand. While this is a great thing to do, it is important to make sure that your opponent is not very strong when you do this as getting re-re-raised in this situation can be both devastating to your table image but your chip stack as well.
Knowing how to apply and recognize bluff re-raising on sites like absolute poker is a valuable technique for players looking to bring their game to the next level. Whether or not you are successfully able to utilize it is not as important as being able to recognize its use.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:24 am
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