Bluffing Ratio

[Brad22]

When you're playing NL MTTs, live or online, do you have a certain bluffing ratio that you are using? For example, depending on the table you're playing at, do you have some determined amount of times where and when you are going to bluff a hand, either pre-flop or after, or is everything really based upon the player and the flop/situation?

How often are you using tells to make bluffs, rather than simply using randomized bluffs where you sense weakness? (In the case where you're not hitting flops, getting good cards, or need chips to have a chance)

I think Harrington says to bluff about once an hour in live tournaments. I problably bluff a little more than that and I wouldn't consider myself to be overly aggressive. In live tournaments I trust my tells a lot when bluffing. On-line I pretty much just use continuation bets with the occasional blind steal.

[CardSharpCook]

that seems high to me. I'm only playing 3-6 hands an hour (VPIP 10-20%). For me it is more like 1 big bluff a live tourney. Maybe two.

[ononimo]

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that seems high to me. I'm only playing 3-6 hands an hour (VPIP 10-20%). For me it is more like 1 big bluff a live tourney. Maybe two.

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probably depends on how you define a "big" bluff

[Brad22]

I mean how often are you putting out alot of small bluffs in the tourney?

For ex:

-Limping with the intent of betting out if all check, or raising if there is a weak bet
-Calling a bet with the intent of raising or betting large on the next street
-Raising simply to make a bet and a continutation bet


Ok, so the 1st and 3rd examples would be somewhat sizable pots. But does anyone really plan to use brash aggression like this?

I do, and I've found to win more money than I lose. The success varies - obviously, you take a shot at pots and it doesn't work out, but I have found these strategies to be successful when the cards and flops are not being favorable, and you need chips.

What does everyone else think of this?

[elmitchbo]

i think it is all in the defintion of big bluff. if you call pushing all-in on the river with nothing a big bluff.... then i only average one per tournament i'd say.

on the other hand i make a continuation bet on every hand where i have the betting lead before the flop. i take lots of pots that way. i don't think those are big bluffs, but they are bluffs technically. at this point that play feels so routine to me that i don't even feel like i'm bluffing, i feel just the same as i would if bet half the pot with top pair.

a CB is not always a bluff. Say for instance you are dealt AKs and raise preflop. Then you miss the flop entirely. It is a CB and not a value bet because you missed your hand completely and there is a good chance you are now a dog, however, AK could very well be best hand right now so in this case your CB could be considered somewhat of a probe bet moreso than a bluff bet. I wouldnt consider this part of any "quota" or "ratio", as the CB should be a normal part of your arsenal (and depends solely on how many hands you are involved in preflop anyway). I'm not saying you should CB every flop, but post flop bluffing and bluffing with 92o preflop are totally different animals, as are blind steals.

I think if you try to define this as a ratio, you are asking for trouble in trying to improve your game. Bluffing is strongly read dependent. So every situation, hand, table is different.

[Brad22]

I wasn't really trying to define anything as a ratio per se, but wanted a better idea of what kind of bluffs people are using randomly - by randomly, I mean in spots where you cannot tell for certain what the other player has, but the texture of the flop and the bet size, given the type of player, gives you a reason to beleive that you can take the pot away, but there is not necessarily a reason to be bluffing either due to recent hands, table image, chip stack and other factors.