When Semi-Bluffing is a Bad Idea
Semi-bluffing is a great strategy for gaining an edge over unsuspecting opponents both online and at live casinos. It is a powerful tool in your arsenal because it incorporates two different parts of the game of poker. With a semi-bluff, not only do you stand the chance of improving to the best hand, but you have the added element that your opponent may immediately fold, also making the hand go in your favor.
The semi-bluff should not be used if you do not think your opponent will fold. This eliminates an important part of your edge since you will be solely playing your hand based upon the fact that it will improve to the best one. If you are not getting proper pot odds, this means that you are now playing the hand incorrectly.
Another place where you shouldn’t semi-bluff is when you are in the last to act position. This is a debatable play since you stand a very good possibility of benefiting from getting a free card. If your opponents check around to you, you need to evaluate the merits of winning the pot immediately, or gaining the opportunity of seeing a card that will improve your hand to the best, and win an even larger pot by seeing the hand to its completion. There is also the danger that if there are a few people in the hand that at least one of them has a good hand, and that they will re-raise you in an attempt to slow-play the hand. Semi-bluffing works best when you are in an earlier position.