Poker is a fun game of skill and chance that takes a day to learn and a lifetime to master. While millions of players around the world are playing poker on a daily basis, most don’t really know what they are doing when they sit at the poker table. If you are not careful, it is very easy to come off as stupid at the poker table, even if this is not always the actual matter of a fact.

• Do you enjoy poker with your friends or at the casinos?
• Have you been having trouble deciding when to bluff?
• Do you have problems with tilt and anger management?

If you are an avid poker player who tends to bluff just a bit too much, keep reading and you will learn about some of the worst situations to bluff and why you should stay well away from them.

We know that poker is a game where bluffing is essential, but this does not mean you should bluff whenever the opportunity arises. If you are just sitting there at the table and looking down at an opponent who is going to call you no matter what, then why should you bluff?

Here are the top 13 situations in which you should never bluff if you like to keep your chips and your cash!

1. Bluffing the Calling Station

We have all been there! Sitting at the table with that one guy who simply never seems to fold and is running hotter than the sun. It can be really tempting to bluff this guy off his hand and show the bluff to the table, but maybe a better idea is to simply bet into him when you finally have it.

It can be really frustrating when this guy, who clearly has no idea why he even came down to the poker room, keeps turning over full house after full house, but this is a part of poker and you should never allow your emotions to play a part in how you play poker hands.

The key thing to remember is that the calling station’s hot streak will end and he is not going to magically learn how to play poker once it does. At this point, you and everyone else in the casino are going to get paid big and the guy will likely walk away without a dime in his pocket. Patience is a virtue in life, and even more so in poker.

• Calling stations don’t like to fold their hands
• Avoid bluffing players who will call with anything
• Wait for good situations and make value bets

2. Bluffing to Show It

Even professional players sometimes get tempted to make a big bluff and show it to the table. While it does not really achieve much in terms of winning money, showing a big bluff can be really satisfying, especially for players who are vain.

Sure enough, you might come off as smart and savvy if the bluff works, but if it does not, you will be left with your hand down your pants and looking like a donkey. I have seen it countless times that players try to pull a massive bluff, get called down by the nuts and complain how bad their luck is that the guy just had it.

Playing smart poker means knowing when and why to bluff. If you want to bluff simply to show it off to your friends, you should probably keep to some very low stakes games at home or find another game to play. Vanity and poker do not mix very well.

• Bluffs are meant to make you money
• Bluffing just to show it is always a bad idea
• Don’t let your vanity get the better of you at the tables

3. Pulling a Bluff on the Novice

Nothing in the world of poker is more tilting than guys who are playing for the first time. To make things worse, these guys tend to get incredible cards their first times around, as the concept of beginner’s luck really kicks in at poker.

If you have been playing poker for a while, I am sure you have already done it and seen it countless times. You or another solid player makes a move that would work on anyone… or not really everyone! This guy has no idea how strong his hand is and simply ends up calling you all the way with pocket ducks, leaving you with a precious expression on your face.

My suggestion?! Stay away from making big bluffs against guys who are not sure just how strong their hand is. This is another situation where going for the value is much better than bluffing in big pots, as these guys are just as likely to pay you off as the more experienced calling stations.

• Beginner players don’t know how strong their hand is
• Making a move on a beginner can be suicide
• If they don’t really fold, don’t bluff them!

4. Bluffing or Value Betting?

Professional players know the purpose of every bet they are making. Recreational players, on the other hand, tend to bet just for the sake of betting, which can really leave you in a pickle if you are not careful. A bet should be either a bluff or a value bet, and making moves that are neither will usually not end up very well.

When you are sitting at the table, there is plenty of time to act. Examine the board, your cards and your opponents and decide if you think you have the best hand or you need to bluff. Only then should you make your bet. Otherwise, you are just throwing money away and making the donkeys at the table seem like geniuses.

Most players fall into the trap of making a bet and not knowing how to respond to further aggression on later cards. This is because they don’t think things through in time, and you should definitely try not to fall into this category. If you want to make money playing poker, or at least not be the worst player at the table, make sure you know what you are achieving with every bet you make.

• Betting should always have a purpose
• If your hand is strong, bet for value
• If you hand is weak but with potential, go for the bluff

5. Breaking the Bad Streak

Of all the countless reasons people bluff raise in poker, this has to be one of the most ridiculous one. Time and time again, superstitious players will make a big re-raise before the flop with poor holdings trying to break their bad streak, get in there with “small cards” and get lucky.

Poker is a game of patience and wits, and not one where blind luck will make you money in the long run. Sure enough, you might get lucky when you re-raise your 73 off suit and flop a full house, but more often than not, you will end up getting re-raised back or simply stacked by a player with an actual hand and a reasonable action plan.

Never let your poor luck and bad run of cards influence the way you play your hands. You should have a plan for any type of a hand you can get dealt and act according to this plan or you should not really play poker. After all, the baccarat tables are just down the hall.

• You can’t break a bad streak by playing bad cards
• Being aggressive with rags will get you stacked and steaming
• Play your hands with a plan and don’t worry about results

6. The Chatty Cathy

Using psychology and talking to other players during poker hands may look cool when you are watching Daniel Negreanu or Antonio Esfandiari do it on TV, but for the most of us, talking to players only gives away information. What’s even worst, so many guys fall into the trap of talking only when they are bluffing, that calling them down in such spots becomes obligatory.

From my experience, if you are ever going to talk to players, it better be when you are trying to get a call. Talking to them can really get them steaming and thinking you are playing mind games, and once the ego kicks in, they are very likely to make a call.

More times than you can imagine, saying random gibberish will get you a call even in hands where there is plenty of money in the pot. To sum up, make you speeches when you have it, but don’t be too obvious, and keep your mouth shut when you are bluffing by all means.

• Talking at the poker table gives away information
• Table speeches tend to prompt calls, not folds
• Talking your opponents into a fold is usually a terrible idea

7. Letting the Ego Take Hold

Whether you like it or not, poker in a live environment is an emotional game. Just like sports, poker comes very close to actual warfare, with you and your opponents looking each other in the eye and deciding what move to make next in order to win. Just like warfare, poker can get very personal and egos can play a massive part in moves you and other people make at the table.

While I am not saying you should be spineless at the table, winning poker is all about making smart and mathematically sound decisions. Letting your ego take over and trying to win a pot against that one guy whose antics have been tilting you all night usually does not pan out the way you would have wanted it to.

Instead of trying to bluff a single player over and over again to prove that you are a better man, consider making your bluffs in spots where they can actually fold, and keep playing your game no matter what anyone is saying. If you get caught up in their shenanigans, winning will become much more difficult.

• You should play poker with your brains, not your ego
• Don’t let the loud guy win with his antics
• Make your bluffs selectively and against the right players

8. Why So Much?

I have seen it more times than I care to remember that a guy makes a bet whose size makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Instead of making a bluff proportional to the size of the pot, inexperienced players can get carried away and risk way more money than they should on a pointless bluff for a tiny pot.

If you are going to go after a pot and bluff, you should always make sure to calculate the size of the pot and make a bet that makes sense for the pot you are stealing. Making a huge overbet can make sense at times, but this is an advanced play that takes perfect planning to make money in the long run.

Betting more than half the pot as a bluff is usually not a great idea, and if you think they might fold for even less, than go for it by all means. Remember, the point of bluffing is to steal chips that don’t belong to you, not to look like the school bully.

• Bet sizing is a crucial poker skill
• Make your bluffs and value bets the same size
• Don’t make big overbets to steal small pots

9. Drinking and Poker Don’t Mix

If you have spent years playing in home games where having a few beers while playing is normal, you should probably reconsider this habit before you jump into a more serious game. Drinking and playing is reserved for suckers who usually lose money and are in the game simply to gamble, and you don’t want to be the sucker, do you?

Drinking alcohol slows down your cognitive processes, takes inhibitions away and makes you reckless overall. It is for this reason that you should absolutely never drink alcohol when you are playing poker, as you need a clear and sharp mind if you are going to be successful at this game.

Drunk players always bluff too much, talk too much and lose too much at the poker table, so make sure you stick to water and juice and save the alcohol for celebrations after the game is over and you have walked away with full pockets.

• Drinking takes away inhibitions and makes you reckless
• Avoid drinking alcohol while playing poker
• Drunk players are the worst bluffers in the game, so don’t be one

10. I Saw This On TV

TV poker shows are all the rage nowadays, with players of all levels watching the absolute best in the world compete on TV and make plays that don’t always make sense to most players. Watching poker on TV can be a great idea, especially if you are already at an intermediate level where you can understand some of the concepts that the pros are using in their game.

However, more often than not, a player in the game will make a huge bluff and compare it with what Vanessa Selbst did on a big EPT hand, even though it’s not even close to being the same. Let alone the fact that Vanessa’s plays can be quite dubious at time.

You should not be trying to recreate plays by your poker heroes from TV in your home game or local casino game. The truth is that most live games are so soft that there is no need for especially complex plays and straight up play wins the day on most days. Stick to a solid strategy that gives little away and you will come away with plenty of money from calling stations who can’t help themselves.

• TV stars are usually much better poker players than you
• Don’t try to randomly recreate plays you saw on TV
• Playing solid poker is all it takes to win in live games

11. Doyle Brunson vs Highway Patrol

One of the true proofs that psychology plays a massive role in poker is the fact that people are way more likely to make silly bluffs with “named hands” than other random trash. Hands like T2 and T4 have been known to have players go crazy, simply because Doyle Brunson won the WSOP with them or because you can turn it over and say “highway patrol” once they fold.

In reality, most hands with big names tend to be trash hands that you should almost never play, including the great T2 that the Godfather of Poker got lucky with on occasion. Hands like these tend to make players make stupid plays and lose money needlessly, so stay away from this rookie mistake as much as possible.

• Named hands are usually absolute trash
• Never play a hand because of its lore
• Just because Doyle won with it once, does not mean you will too

12. I Had My Favourite Hand

Anyone who says their favourite hand is anything but pocket aces is either a liar or completely bonkers. There is really nothing quite like looking down at a couple of rockets in the hole with action going wild in front of you, so remember that pocket aces should always be your favourite hand.

Despite this, many players decide that some random, usually pretty bad hand is their favourite. They then proceed to play it every time it is dealt and bluff with it way more than they should, losing tons of money in the process.

My suggestion is to always remember that pocket aces are your favourite and if you are going to pick a hand that you have a sentimental feeling for, at least make it something like T9 suited or pocket fives instead of Q8 off suit or 62 suited.

• There is no magical reason you should prefer one hand over another
• Pocket aces are always the best hand pre-flop, no matter what happens
• Leave out the superstition and don’t over bluff your “favourite” hand

13. Well That’s Just a Load of C***

The point of a bluff is that it should convince your opponent that you have a legitimate hand that beats theirs. Many times in live games, you will see players make completely crazy plays that don’t really represent anything and start bluffing at the strangest of times, only to get snap called and throw their cards in the muck.

When you are making a bluff, you should make sure that your story checks out and that your opponent is actually capable of making a fold. This means a combination of things that includes playing a hand in a way that would make sense for you to play if you actually had it. Additionally, you need to make sure your opponent is capable of reading your actions and putting you on a hand.

If you simply start turning random hands with no equity into bluffs at random times, you will get called way too often by players who will not be able to believe you. After all, they are just waiting for a reason to call you and no one really likes to fold in live poker games.

• Make sure your bluffs check out and make sense
• Don’t start randomly bluffing with hands with no equity
• Make sure your opponent is capable of reading your actions

He Who Laughs Last Laughs Best

There are many things in life for which this saying can be applied, and poker is definitely one of them. The game of poker is one where patience and sensible play always prevail in the long run and there is no reason to run around making wild bluffs against people whose nature prevents them from throwing their cards across the line.

The truth is you can’t win at poker without bluffing, but you should make sure you choose your spots wisely and your opponents with good care. Make sure you are bluffing the tight passive players and not giving away your cash to the calling stations and you will come away with a grin on your face when all the money is in your fanny pack.

Whether you are playing poker for money or the thrill of victory, you will come the closest to both by making sensible plays at the right times. If you try to pull the bluffs we mentioned in this article, you will simply be another fish in the pond, waiting for the sharks to chew you up and spit yo