Poker tricks

Bluff ( English bluff ) - bet or Raising in a hand that is hardly the best at the moment. There is usually a clear bluff - a bet with a hand, which is not only weak at the moment, but has little chance of improvement before the showdown, and a semi-bluff - a bet with a weak hand, but which has significant chances to improve to a winning one.

When check-raise ( English check-raise ) player says " check ”in his turn during a trade with the intention of raising, when after him one of the opponents makes a bet. Check-raising is usually used in the following situations:

• with a strong hand to collect more money in the bank;
• with a medium-strength hand to remove opponents from the game or force them to make a wrong move;
• with a weak hand as a bluff;

The negative side of the check-raise is that the opponents may not make a bet, in which case they will simply receive a free card. Therefore, check-raising is usually used only when there is great confidence that someone will bet. Most often this happens on flop against Preflop raiser (player attacking preflop).

A player can raise the bet on the flop from the last position with a drawing hand, so that, fearing a strong combination, all opponents said “check” to the turn In this case, the player, if he did not receive the required card, can himself say "check", thus, having the opportunity to see the river is at no extra charge, that is, it receives a free card .

Most often they try to get a free card with overcards , straight draw or flash draw Like other techniques, it has a drawback - the enemy can give reraise , and in this case, instead of saving the bet on the turn, you have to pay two extra on the river.

Slow-play ( born slowplay , sandbagging) is a passive draw of a very strong hand with the goal of leaving as many players as possible in the game and collecting the maximum bank. Ideally, the slowplay should allow opponents to improve enough to continue the game and respond to bets, but not enough to win the player. Slowplay is not recommended if:

• A free (or cheap) card will allow the opponent to get the best hand,
• The bank is big, in this case, the opponents will have enough bank chances to respond to the stakes.
• Many players in the game, in this case, the bank is already big and there is a greater likelihood that one of the opponents will be able to get a winning combination as a result.
• The level of opponents is low, and they will pay for a strong combination.

Blind stealing ( English blinds stealing ) - raise preflop from late positions, if no one has entered the game before, in order to force players to the blinds fold and get their bets without playing. Unlike playing preflop from late positions, you can try to steal the blinds with almost any card, in principle, stealing the blinds can be viewed as a type of bluff under strictly defined conditions.

Naturally, players in the blinds do not want to lose their mandatory bets, so in response to an attempt to steal the blinds, players often defend the blinds ( English blinds defense ) - they give a reraise. The general principle of attacking the blinds and protecting them is simple - if the flop does not help any of the players, then the player who raised last will have a significant advantage, it is likely that his opponent will simply fold to the bet, considering that the opponent has a better card.

A continuation bet or a cbet ( eng. Continuation bet ) is a bet that is played on the flop by a player who raised before the flop, regardless of whether the flop increased his combination. Continued bet is a type of bluff. Usually such a bluff is effective for the following reasons:

• Raising a bet both before the flop and after it is a logical way of playing very strong cards (for example, two aces, etc.) By continuing the bet, the player demonstrates that he has this type of combination, and, if opponents believe him, they rarely There will be cards with which they can have a good chance of success.
• Most flops do not create strong hands with most possible player cards. Two unpaired cards (such as an ace and a king) increase to a pair on the flop only about 32% of the time, or once out of three. In cases where opponents do not get a flop that enhances their combination, they are likely to fold if they raise.
• Since the bet was raised before the flop, the number of opponents after the flop in many cases will be small (1-2 players), which increases the likelihood of a successful bluff. If there are more than 2 opponents, the continuation bet is usually not recommended in situations in which the flop did not really help the player, since the probability of success will be small.

An effective way to deal with players who too often use a continuation bet is to check-raise the flop.

Floating is also a frequently used strategy in modern poker (especially online). The essence of this technique is to go under the opponent's raise and then call his flop bet and successively raise it on the turn and river. The purpose of these actions is to knock out an opponent from the bank, and the actual cards of the player performing the floating are not very important. It is important to remember that this technique can be carried out only on a safe board and only against a strong opponent, since a weak opponent will equalize your bet on the third pair. Also, do not get involved in this technique and try to float a few opponents.