Poker Tips: Bluffing From A Late Position

Bluffing, Table Position
December 24 2008

Your playing position at the poker table is one of most important factors in the game. When you’re sitting in a late position you hold the edge of being able to watch your opponents act before you have to. This often provides many opportunities to bluff at a pot that no one has shown any interest in. Flops often miss everyone in the hand, and a timely bet from a late position, on most tables, is a high percentage play.

Your opponents will require a drawing hand to stay in the hand, as long as your image is somewhat conservative. If you do get called, a continuation bluff should determine where you stand in the hand. You also have the option of taking a free card if your opponent checks the action to you again. If the river card is checked to you again you’ll have to determine if a final bluff is the right move.

Bluffing from late position on the river, after you’ve been called once or twice, is a tough play to make. The board cards should tell you if it’s the right move. A board like (Qc, 9c, 4h, 2h, 7s) would be a good one to bluff at. There were lots of possible hands that an opponent could have been on when he called your flop bluff, but the seven would have missed the draws. But if the river card is a danger card, which could have made a drawing hand complete (Qc, 9c, 4h, 2h, 10c), the river bluff is a dangerous play. So keep your bet low if you still want to take another stab at the pot in this situation.

• More poker tips for: Bluffing, Table Position
• Complete poker tips archive

Learn more about bluffing in Bodog’s online poker room.