Semi-Bluffing in NL

[PoBoy321]

Semi-bluffs are incredibly important at all stakes. Granted, you often need reads in order to understand who won't lay down TPBK any kind of aggression, BUT, those players, at the same time, often get very passive and semi-bluffs can often allow you to get free cards on the turn.

Against tightish players, semi-bluffs are useful both in that they can allow you to take free cards, win w/o improvement and, for more observant players, be excellent with regards to metagame considerations.

[Fallen Hero]

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you still have to make a hand to get real paid.

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that's really wrong :|

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You usually have to showdown a good hand to win a big pot.

Semi-bluffing garners you small and the occasional medium-sized pot.

That's the thought behind my comment. And I stand by it.

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I understand the idea behind it, but the way you said it, looks like you're defending playing your draws like: call, hit, try to get paid off then.

PS: and probably the majority of the money we make playing poker comes from small pots, not big ones...for whatever that's worth in this discussion.

[4_2_it]

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I understand the idea behind it, but the way you said it, looks like you're defending playing your draws like: call, hit, try to get paid off then.

PS: and probably the majority of the money we make playing poker comes from small pots, not big ones...for whatever that's worth in this discussion.

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I have not problem with raising a draw. In fact, that is the best way to get paid when you hit.

I'm not so sure about your last statement. Most of my total winnings has come from AA, KK, QQ and AK. I am fairly certain the majority of the those were large pots.

I view taking down small pots as a refund/offset of paying to draw. For instance, if I am a 4-1 underdog, assume I can take down one pot by a semi-bluff, and one pot by hitting and miss with my other two. That extra small pot (semi-bluff pot) I just won helps offset the price I paid on my missed draws. I don't see it as making more overall than my monsters. I include hitting monster draws in my definition of big pots, which may explain some of our 'disagreement'

metagame considerations?

I agree with this post. In NL you can control the odds you give your opponent to call by varying your bet. Therefore is very applicable and valuable tool in your arsenal.