Recognizing bluffing situations

[Baseballer02]

Just wondering what situations come up where you pretty much know it would be a good time to bluff. Is it when a tight preflop raiser pots it preflop and the board comes all high or is paired on the flop, or is it when the 3-flush comes on the turn and you're holding the ace? After this hand I'm just wondering what sort of situations you guys like to bluff in. Do you believe this hand was a good time to bluff?

Edit: Villain was about 5 seconds from timing out before finally betting, which I took as weakness.

***** Hand History for Game 2816985503 *****
$200 PL Omaha Hi/Lo - Monday, October 03, 03:49:10 EDT 2005
Table Table 55027 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: FourFives99 ( $293.02 )
Seat 3: atcdave ( $217.42 )
Seat 6: MomoTheDog ( $195.90 )
Seat 7: ismellgood ( $273.08 )
Seat 8: craznraizin ( $212.43 )
Seat 9: nutnutmaker ( $272.68 )
Seat 10: nikii ( $440.93 )
Seat 1: Sir_Les ( $200.60 )
Seat 5: Hero ( $253.05 )
Seat 4: dikhertz ( $190 )
nikii posts small blind [$1].
Sir_Les posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 9s 3c 7s Ac ]
FourFives99 folds.
atcdave calls [$2].
dikhertz folds.
Hero calls [$2].
MomoTheDog folds.
ismellgood raises [$11].
craznraizin folds.
nutnutmaker folds.
nikii folds.
Sir_Les folds.
atcdave folds.
Hero calls [$9].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, Js, Jd ]
Hero checks.
ismellgood bets [$15].
Hero raises [$45].
ismellgood folds.
Hero does not show cards.

[Wintermute]

I wouldn't use time-taken-to-act as a reliable indicator for judging weakness or strength, unless the pattern changed suddenly; many players play multiple tables, so if the opponent is involved in a hand at another table, he may take forever to act regardless of the strength of his hand.

As for this spot, it looks like a decent place to take a stab at picking up the pot. The amount looks a little weird, that might be a slight tip-off. Most jack's will check-raise or lead for the pot, not put out a 1/2-3/4 bet. An alternative is to delay-bluff since you have position; often the opponent will check the turn if you just call, at which point you can stick in the same $30 and get him to fold, without having to worry about getting reraised on the flop. Think of it as calling for information. Sure, he might improve, but then so might you. For example:

$400 PL Omaha Hi/Lo
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 2: Hero ( $572.05 )
Seat 1: Villain ( $596.65 )
Seat 5: Folder ( $342.50 )
Folder posts small blind [$2].
Villain posts big blind [$4].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 6s 7c 3c 2c ]

Hero calls [$4].
Folder calls [$2].
Villain raises [$12].
Hero calls [$12].
Folder folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 7h, Th ]

Villain bets [$30].
Hero calls [$30].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]

Villain bets [$70].
Hero raises [$150].
Villain calls [$80].

** Dealing River ** [ 5s ]

Villain checks.
Hero is all-In [$376.05]
Villain folds.
Hero does not show cards.
Hero wins $771.05

It requires some context, but the Villain here is revealing weakness every time he bets less than the pot ($30 into the $35 pot on the flop). He probably just has hearts, and maybe a backdoor nut low draw to explain the PFR. Hence the bluffing opportunity, beginning w/ the flop call. The turn gives me a decent hand and couldn't help him, and he again bets less than the pot, so I begin the delayed bluff, and the river brings both a scare card and gives me a decent two-way hand. I suppose this is more of an extended semi-bluff rather than a stone bluff, but you get the idea.

In general, anyhow, judging when to bluff is pretty contextual, so just go with your instincts and then gradually adjust your approach based on results over time.

[emptyshell]

It's not a bad time to bluff on this flop, given the donk bet. Someone with a jack would usually pot it, given that there are two spades.

The long time to act could just mean he's playing multiple tables or the [censored] internet connection is messing up again. So I wouldn't put much faith in it.

[Wintermute]

Also don't discount that he was getting a blowjob or was similarly distracted by some chick--that's accounted for approximately 70% of my worst misclicks/ill-fated attempts to buy the pot on the flop with a crazy-ass donk bet.

[emptyshell]

No sh!t. It's very distracting when European girls do what Europeans do while your sitting with $2k at four tables. My win rate has been cut by 3 in the past month.

[Wintermute]

Dude, tell me about it. It's hard enough to concentrate at the final table of a 500k guaranteed MTT when you're taking a dump on some coked-up call girl's chest; but throw in the siamese midget twins who are screaming instructions at you while videotaping the whole thing, and it becomes pretty much impossible to play optimally.

[emptyshell]

Oh, I plan to save crapping on chest until marriage. I'd like some level of purity when I find "the one".

[Kuso]

[ QUOTE ]
Dude, tell me about it. It's hard enough to concentrate at the final table of a 500k guaranteed MTT when you're taking a dump on some coked-up call girl's chest; but throw in the siamese midget twins who are screaming instructions at you while videotaping the whole thing, and it becomes pretty much impossible to play optimally.

[/ QUOTE ]

if you do the tits after the dump, isn't that called a "chili dog"?

or if you're getting head, a "hot lunch"?

Terms I learned from South Park