Catching a bluff can be very challenging especially for the new liver poker players. Being new to the game, they can hardly understand as to what criteria is needed to catch and punish bluffers in the live poker tournaments held at the best poker rooms in India or across the world. The most important thing to understand for successful bluff catching is to know if you are holding a bluff catcher hand. If yes, you should go ahead and call the bluffer. However, if you are doubtful, you should avoid to call that heavy bet on the river, because you are likely to lose all your chips. Discovering how to sniff out bluffs at the table is the art of bluff catching, which new poker players need to learn. Here, we discuss some tips to successfully catch bluffers in the live poker:
1.Define a Good Situation to Catch Bluffs To successfully catch the bluffs from your opponents, you should have the ability to read them. When it comes to bluff catching in live poker tournaments, you should be damn sure that you have a strong hand to beat the bluff. If you are calling someone with top pair, it may be okay and you could win a big pot. However, if you are making a call with bottom pair, catching a bluff may cost you a lot. So, it is important to first read the opponent and then determine if your call makes a sense. If you are confident about winning the hand, then you should go ahead and make a call.
2.Call Bets from Players Capable of Bluffing First of all, keep in mind that your opponent should be in the category of players who often bluff. If the players comes into the small category of never-bluffers, or even if the players has been so tight all through the liver poker game with you, you should not risk your chips by calling him or her. Keep in mind that he or she is not raising that river with a weak pair or kicker. The player must have something strong and that is why he or she is continually firing. However, if you feel that you have a better hand to beat the bluff, you can go ahead to call those heavy river bets.
3.Consider Bet Size to Call a Bluff For successful bluff catching in live poker, you also need to consider if your opponent’s bet size makes it inviting to call. If you have an opponent with a history of routinely or frequently betting big amounts with weak hands, you may call any bet from him or her. However, if the player is smart enough and bets in favourable situations with strong hands only, you must not call bets from him or her. It is should also be noted that you may have an opponent who is bluffing every 2.5 times, you could call such a player if you have a hand to beat and snatch the big pot this way.
4.Call with a Bluff Catcher Hand Sometimes, you know that your opponent is 100% bluffing you, but should you have a bluff catcher hand to make a call and successfully beat the bluff from your opponent. Be it live poker tournaments or online tourneys, most players bluff a little on those rivers. The idea behind this is to force others fold and drive out of the hand to win the pot. Although many players are bluffing on that river, but some of them raising heavily must have something strong. So, be smart and careful while calling them, otherwise you could end up losing all your chips by calling river bets.
5.Don’t Call Bets Fives Times the Pot Size There are times when a players bets all streets. If he or she is doing that he must be having something strong and you should not make a mistake of calling heavy bets from him or her. The same way, if your opponent bets five times the size of the pot on the river, what is use of calling him or her with a relatively small or marginal hand with small pair, weak kicker or connectors? Sometimes, you are likely to catch the bluff and win a huge pot, but there is always a big risk in calling bets bigger than the pot itself, because if you don’t catch the bluff, you lose all your chips.