Bluffing

Trying to fine tune my bluffing strategy, I play in a very loose 4/8 hold em game w/ sometimes 8 players to the flop.

I generally bluff w/ hands w/ potential, large suited connectors, small pairs, ace suited, that have a chance to improve and become a decent hand. Other than that I play very tight, in fact when I first sit down, I am hoping for 1 pair/small pair, to bet all the way, and lose, then I tighten up.

Should I continue betting my bluffs to the end, should I raise, w/ cards to come, raise for the hell of it ?

Prior to this, I only played pairs,large suits, or ace suited, which became very predictable.

Trying to mix up my game a bit, and looking for a good bluffing strategy.

In a loose limit game, bluffs are not as effective as we might hope. On the other hand, Semi-bluffs (large suited connectors, suited aces) make for very nice raising hands. I will almost always raise a suited Ace on the button or blinds, just to build a nice pot for when my flush draw does show.

Once you are in the hand with 8 callers, you have to wonder how effective your bluff will be? When the pot gets to a certain size, your goal changes to "do anything you can to win the pot", so it will be correct to be aggressive in the right situations. Be careful, the bigger the pot is, and the more players hanging around, the more likely someone will cold call you to the river.

More effective bluffs are check-raises or bets & raises when something scary hits the board against only 1 or 2 players. A lot of people will fold for $8 on the turn when you put the idea in their head you might have made your draw.

You should occasionally/often bet and raise draws to create value situations. If people start folding, good, if not, you still can draw out

Bluffing in a limit game, espeacially a low stakes game, is more of an art form than anything else, because of the fact that your opponent can't go bust due to one of your bets.

I used to love bluffing in limit. The key to it is, do what your doing, play tight and prove you are a tight player.

When you have the image that you are looking for, that is when you bust out the bluff. It is always good to bluff with draws and re-draws.

I found that, the first hand I bluff, I make sure to NOT GIVE UP the hand, bet it or hell, 2 or 3 bet it.

At the showdown, I always make sure that I am the first to table my hand. If I missed my draw and ended up with AIR, I would annouce it very clearly and at a decent volume, to make sure that everyone knew i was betting my bluff the whole way.

Changing gears is the BACKBONE to the bluff. The next hand you table should be played the same way, except this time show them the nuts. This should slow down your opponents in later hands and make the BLUFF profitable.

I hope I shed some light on your game. As always... your game, your way....justt take a lil from here and there, and your game will be fine.