The Ultimate Guide To Bluffing In Poker

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[@saulocostapoker]

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[@woohoowilly]

hey man, just wanna say your are 1000% the best poker youtube i have come across. i have read countless books, and videos on poker - and noone broke down bluffing like this, and its helped me immensly in understanding the game. just wanna give you two thumbs up on your work and ill be looking into your coaching! - will

[@saulocostapoker]

Thank you so much for your comment my friend! Makes me happy to see the work generating fruits

[@woohoowilly]

@@saulocostapoker yessir. You are truly the goat of poker content

[@augisslava]

Bro doesnt know hungryhorse

[@woohoowilly]

@@augisslava who's that?

[@NoLongerGrilling]

@@augisslava he’s amazing too, but this video just one upped him big time. This is like elite stuff only players at the top used to know

[@infosrelevantes7146]

Worlds best poker content creator. Thank you

[@luser9472]

This type content esn't available even in the premium courses forget about for free. Thank you making such high quality content!!!

[@saulocostapoker]

My pleasure my friend!

[@NoLongerGrilling]

Indeed, this video literally blew my mind that it was made public. Saulo is the goat for this and likely singlehandedly the reason why poker will get even tougher from now on 😅

[@DavidLiebowitz]

Professor Costa, I have watched every single video that you ever produced for GTO Wizard, multiple times. Your content just keeps getting better and better. Same goes for your teaching skills. Thank you.🙏🎓

[@saulocostapoker]

thank you very much for the compliment mate, much appreciated

[@saulocostapoker]

💲 Discover all of your Leaks with my new course Lowstakes Blueprint 👉🏽 bit.ly/3yRHRyR 🔥 Follow me on Instagram for MORE Free Content: instagram.com/saulocostapoker/ 📚 Join my FREE Discord Community 👉🏽 saulocosta.poker

[@volivoly]

Thought we are never seeing another Saulo video, nice work🎉

[@saulocostapoker]

I'm back 😎

[@NoLongerGrilling]

@@saulocostapokerConfirmed the GOAT now, no doubts left.

[@Rechnerstrom]

Great video explaining the basic theory behind bluffing! One way that helps thinking about blockers is what part of the opponents range is blocked. Unblocking (not blocking) opponents folding range is worth more than blocking opponents calling range because the calling range of the opponent is always bigger than his folding range. Unblocking the smaller folding range range increases foldequity more than blocking the bigger calling range. Perfect blockers unblock opponents folding range while blocking opponents calling range. But you don't always have enough bluffs with those properties, so for your other bluffes prefer those which unblock the folding range. A really important concept wasn't covered in this video: our opponents aren't solvers. They have tendencies to overfold or underfold in a given situation (for individual reasons) and that has a major impact on the bluffing strategy.

[@camilotm]

Great video as usual!

[@mikaelforsberg1272]

Amazing video…. My head hurts, I’ll have to see it many times but amazing video 👍

[@NoLongerGrilling]

Yeah, this one is so good i have already watched it twice and still haven’t internalized everything. Truly a gem!

[@raysio9658]

my brain hurt

[@perkele48]

Superb video, although can you clarify moment at 19:45? We do have 13% of busted T8, JT, QJ, so our range is not "only good blockers". Assuming we bluffing around 50% of our Ahigh which is 18% of range that we need to bluff in this spot. So our busted SD can cover 2\3 of that requirement. It just adds contradiction and makes your statement not true without additional condition, which ruins your practical implementation advice.

[@pkrelmo]

This is a really amazing video ❤

[@saulocostapoker]

Thank you

[@BenaBadBeatPoker]

incredibly strong video bro. ngl though, wish you hadn’t made it 🤣❤️

[@saulocostapoker]

Thank you mate!!

[@NoLongerGrilling]

Bro just reduced people’s wr by a significant amount after this one 😅

[@luminrabbit9488]

This video is great but I think I might have to watch this one over and over again to understand it better as I’m a little bit lost on the concept. This makes me realize there so much I don’t know which is a good thing and I’m not sure how I learn it 😁

[@worldofstone]

Saulo is a fucking excellent teacher... so sad I can't catch you livestreams 😢

[@michakotlewski4833]

Hello, as always great video. I don't understand 15:35 According to the table on gtowizard page, when we do potsize bet, we should have 50% required fold equity when bluffing and ratio between value/bluff is 67/33%. Why your alpha is 0,5?

[@imPapuska]

Hey, actually, even really complicated things can always be simplified depending on the circumstances. For example, if we look at the situations in the video, they’re mostly B-X-B lines. People who work with software know that there’s always an overfold on these lines, literally at any bet size. What’s interesting is that the overfold will even happen against fish and those who love to overcall with a high WTSD (went to showdown). This happens because people at low and mid stakes don’t build a check range. So, you can bluff as much as you want and however you want. The only thing that might stop you from bluffing is the platform you're playing on. If they allow software like H2N and you can display HUD, then your opponents will quickly adjust to you. But if you’re playing somewhere that doesn’t allow this kind of software, there’s really no reason not to bluff in 100% of these situations. However, this is just one of the possible scenarios; there are also spots where bluffing isn’t an option at all in real play.

[@NoLongerGrilling]

7:12 this point is what I’ve been waiting for in order for me to ask this question: What happens when the person who lacks proper range construction, let’s say a nit Op 15% from LJ 6max cash, instead of 19% as he’s supposed to, does arrive to the river with fewer air (on the surface) after triple barreling… BUT, they actually compensate with overbluffing other combos that would be turn or flop mixes, thus; increasing their overall frequency to mirror the exact solver’s? Does that mean that they’re reaching balance despite not choosing the proper bluffs and picking incorrect lower ev bluffs? Are the frequencies the most important thing since that is where the math factor comes in when laying your opponent x odds to make them indifferent? Would love if someone like Saulo replied to this 🤞🏼

[@NoLongerGrilling]

Nvm, he immediately proceeds to answer this 😅 Paused the video at 7:12 when i made this comment 😅😅

[@luizfelipegomes4456]

Great video 👍

[@saulocostapoker]

Glad you enjoyed it buddy

[@strewens]

playback speed 0.75 😁 recommended and I just realised I know nothing

[@worldofstone]

@@strewens I literally did this LOL

[@saulocostapoker]

hahaha this was a dense one indeed

[@GODofFM]

Great stuff, but I missed more practical breakdowns; bluffing theory is super complex but also fascinating indeed, though in real games you will never meet anyone who defends optimally, and I doubt we can find any point of indifference in any spot, hence it hardly matters. So should we rely on theory that much? On the river, if they overfold by a small margin, you start bluffing everything that has no sdv, and in case they overcall, you stop bluffing and start gradually shifting towards thinner value bets. And bluffcatching is a similar stuff as in real games you never face indifference; if your opponent is overbluffing by a few %, you just call anything that beats their bluffs no matter what blocker properties you have(or logically fold any bluffcather if you believe the opp can’t find enough bluffs in the spot). Would definitely love to hear more on this topic with more practical examples!

[@saulocostapoker]

Hey buddy, thank you for your comment! Did you watch the whole video? There are practical takeaways towards the end. And I think your comment answers itself. Once you understand the theory, the practice is really straightforward. When people deviate from the balanced thresholds, the exploitative adjustments are pretty obvious. The thing though is that once you start overbluffing and underbluffing against thinking opponents, at some point they will counter exploit you. So either you enter an endless guessing game of 'he knows that I know that he knows' OR you learn the theory so that you can play solid and make money regardless of what your opponent does

[@NoLongerGrilling]

@@saulocostapokerexactly, well said. And not only that, in live games vs competent players, how can anyone tell who is slightly over doing something? You cannot know when they play pseudo gto style, since it’s extremely hard to pinpoint exact frequencies in live poker.

[@roamingthereal4060]

​@@NoLongerGrillingnits are not gto

[@sedderzz7141]

In live poker it is very easy, unless it's high stakes, most players frequencies will be way off. So it becomes a case of understanding what boards and scenarios are underbluffed and overbluffed and deviating from there

[@NoLongerGrilling]

@@sedderzz7141 true, it’s easy vs the bad players, but vs the good players is very tricky. Online, is easier to exploit even the elite players have exploitable holes in their games thanks to huds and gto….

[@1312Mork2]

PEDAGOGIC AF LOVED THIS

[@saulocostapoker]

Thanks bro, appreciate it!

[@1312Mork2]

@@saulocostapoker blew my mind honestly! Thank you sir

[@wevertonsoaresdossantos1405]

nice video, Saulo !

[@saulocostapoker]

Valeu Weverton, tamo junto!

[@Mike-y4f4f]

Really great video that will save you months of time.

[@sassmate5042]

Good video. Any tips / videos for range tracking?

[@2legit2nit31]

excellent video

[@saulocostapoker]

Thank you my friend!

[@NoLongerGrilling]

I’m sorry, but this is the single greatest free poker video ever made! I both hate you and love u for this. 😕

[@saulocostapoker]

Wow thanks a lot for the compliment mate

[@ImDrizzt]

Well, the A5s hand, Q8s folds to cb, if call, it folds to the prefered overbet sizing A5s wants to go aswell, but then has that on the river, talking about a spot to bluff with A5s, then ur A high is ahead of the hand villain shows up with =p

[@ImDrizzt]

simmed the hand, a5s pure check, most of the bluffs are from Qx region that block straights

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Videos like this make me realize how little I know about poker theory despite having studied it for years. It would be awesome if you could turn this into a series where you go into more detail on how to implement this in practice. I feel like one video is nowhere near enough to take in all this information.

[@saulocostapoker]

I agree, looking back at it now I think I made it way too dense 😅 lesson learned

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@saulocostapoker I don't mind the density; just means I have to save the video to rewatch it multiple times! I just think the concept is complex enough that it would benefit from lots of examples over how to connect the theory to the practice. Like, I think I get the theory in abstract, but am still struggling why, eg, the 98o is a bad bluff because of its blockers.

[@libu6189]

Thanks, Saulo. I'm new to all of this and enjoy your videos a lot. I've also heard the differing opinons on the importance/relevance of blockers in various situations. In the 9s8h example, the difference between the average fold freq. and the fold freq. after blocker effects was only about 1.1%. How should we interpret this (apparently) small difference? Thank you.

[@saulocostapoker]

Thank you for your comment buddy! In fact the difference in folding equity on the river amongst varying combos is rarely huge at equilibrium - the most I've seen in tight range spots is a 4% differential. However, these small differences can compound over thousands and thousands of different hands - which is what professionals play everyday. Also, blockers are not only relevant for river bluffing strategies, but for the construction of pretty much any other range in poker - if you're building a check-raise range on the flop OOP, your blockers will have an impact on which are the best bluffs and best value hands to raise or slowplay. If you are double barreling in position on the turn, your blockers will also impact which are the best bluffs to pick from your range, and which value bets should size big and which ones should size down. At the end of the day, poker is a game of small edges, so when you develop a deep understanding of a variable that is present in every single decision, you will be able to take that small edge with you every single time, over thousands of decisions over thousands of hands. It's this accumulation of many small edges that eventually lead to a substantial difference in winrate compared to other regulars. Hope that answers!

[@libu6189]

@@saulocostapoker Thanks, Saulo! That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like a player's thought process/hand reading needs to be rock solid first, then blocker effects can provide an edge that adds up over significant volume.

[@hajebnait6505]

Please continue to give back to the community

[@absoluttchamp]

This went straight over my head....

[@saulocostapoker]

I tried to make it as simple as possible, but it's a complex topic for sure

[@absoluttchamp]

@@saulocostapoker it's not on you, I just need many re-runs and time to digest. Thanks for the content!

[@volivoly]

Loving the content as usual. However, I have to say the speed is too fast. Editor edited out intervals between your sentences to make the video shorter, but in such a theory-dense video, it’s very tough to follow.

[@saulocostapoker]

Thanks for the feedback man. I noticed that as well in the editing and we tried to give the necessary pauses whenever needed, but I guess it wasn't enough. I'll keep an eye for this for future videos, thank you!

[@PhilBot4OOO]

The more reasonable it is for you to have a value hand given the action to a point, the more you get to bluff. Choose your bluffs by having equity with non made hands and/or some sort of removal from your villains calling range. Ez 😂

[@saulocostapoker]

😀

[@iznogoud-g1u]

Thanks for the video, but the pencil sound is terrible.

[@saulocostapoker]

That bad huh? Seems alright to me

[@Mike-y4f4f]

@@iznogoud-g1u didn't even notice the pencil I was busy absorbing the greatness

[@manolisskouloudis9317]

Now the meta will shift towards over bluffed air triples ,cool

[@NoLongerGrilling]

Already been the meta lol. Where have you been?

[@manolisskouloudis9317]

@@NoLongerGrilling not on GG 200 and below my friend

[@Doblou13]

video tao bom q mereceu ser feito de blazer

[@iloovemydogss]

Faz conteúdo em portugues cara, pfv!!!!! Po é mt triste ver voce dando tanta atençao assim p gringo enquanto ha tantos jogadores de cash br...

[@saulocostapoker]

Fala meu querido! Entendo sua frustração cara. Mas a questão é que KZbin é um negócio pra mim. E o propósito de um negócio é gerar lucro. Acontece que gringos pagam em dólar, enquanto brasileiros pagam em real...e com conteúdo em ingles eu atinjo o mundo inteiro, não só um mercado apenas. Ou seja, é muito mais lucrativo pra mim produzir conteúdo em inglês. Mas cara, de conteúdo em portugues voce ta bem servido já! Tem o Max e o Zinhão la produzindo conteudo, ambos com qualidade altíssima. Sugiro que você acompanhe eles se ainda não o faz

[@iloovemydogss]

@@saulocostapoker Entendo, irmão. Desculpe pela minha crítica. Boa sorte nos negócios! Só deixo um feedback de fazer alguns conteúdos desses em pt também, nem que seja 10% dos seus vídeos.

[@ANYABoatinngful]

whats wrong here is that you need to do this when you play in 50 or 25 players pools at nosebleeds. You can survive and thrive at 2 and 5 and 5 and 10 without this. Like u and Nick H said, "people are not solvers and do not play like solvers":, Or as Magus C and Wesley So say, Computers do not make one a better chess player. Guess u made a fan out of Bena. Cheerio mate. Complicated stuff well presented.

[@saulocostapoker]

Absolutely, people deviate a lot from solver. But knowing the theory doesn't mean you will follow it blindly! You can use it to craft your exploitative strategies as you wish

[@bloodsN]

is converting to islam +ev?

[@saulocostapoker]

took me a while to figure out what you meant 🤣🤣😂 good one

[@jorgeantonioramirezcastro6243]

Saulo please, we need videos in spanish🫶🏼❣️🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@saulocostapoker]

No hablo español, perdón 😥

[@NoLongerGrilling]

@@saulocostapokerportuguese is very similar to spanish so we could probably understand like 50% of what you’d say 😂