Semi Bluffing

Semi-Bluffing

Rarely you’re in a situation where you have to make a move at the pot with complete junk. In most cases you have at least some sort of hand even if it’s “only“ a draw. If you make a bluff with a drawing hand you’re making a so called semi-bluff. That’s the topic of this poker strategy article

Requirements for semi-bluffing

Generally the rules for bluffing also apply for semi-bluffing: you must not bluff a lot of opponents, your opponents must not call a lot and you have to represent a strong hand credibly. If this is the case you can try a semi-bluff.
If you make a complete bluff meaning that you have absolutely nothing you will lose when you get called. But not if you’re semi-bluffing: you can win because your opponents fold or you can win because you hit your draw.
Suppose you only have queen high with an inside straight draw on the turn you can try a semi-bluff. If you get called you can still hit your inside straight draw and win the hand.
But there’s a fluent passage. Your winning chances with a bluff are 0 % and if you make a semi-bluff with only two outs on the turn your chances are only 5 %. Not that big of a difference.

When not to semi-bluff Semi-bluffing is profitable in most cases. But you don’t have to make a semibluff if you have a drawing hand. Obviously not when there are a lot of opponents in the pot, loose opponents or when you can’t represent a strong hand. But that’s not the whole story. Generally you can make a good semi-bluff when your winning chances are big although your chances of a successful bluff are low. Suppose you hit a flushdraw on the flop. Your winning chances are about 35 % in most cases. With these chances you can easily attack the pot and you don’t have to be successful very often to make this play profitable. If you’re holding a well disguised draw you should not semibluff. For instance you hold 87 on a T64 flop and hit a double gutshot which is very well disguised. You’ll make more profit if you try to draw cheaply instead of making a semi-bluff.