The Biggest Bluffing Mistake in Poker: Knowing When Not to Fire the River

You hear people say this all the time. This is a great way to lose every chip in your stack.

Let’s say you do an over bet on the turn that is well-timed. You know your opponent had a bunch of mediocre pairs and high cards, but they are only going to call and get to the river with their best top pairs, two pairs, and better.

That’s a lot of folding. This is a good turn over bet. However, the same logic that makes this a good turn over-bet would make blasting the river awful. Why? Because you know he only gets to the river with their best hands.

But you’ll see novice players jam that river into strong hands all the time, because “there’s no way to win if I check”

Believe it or not, you’re not going to win every single pot you play in no-limit hold’em. Sometimes, you’re going to have to be an adult and accept that this hand isn’t going to work out.

If you shove on a river like that, sure, maybe 5% of the time you’ll get a crying fold. But what you’re going to do the majority of the time is vastly increase your losses.

You did your work on the turn. He had too many hands there, and your large bet was going to fold out most of them. Don’t make things worse.