Lesson overview
Bluff Catching
Pay for enough bluffs, not a memorable read
Read this introduction, then sign in to continue the full lesson and exercises.
Inside the full lesson
How often must a river bettor be bluffing for your call to work?
In the full lesson, you work through this scenario with interactive examples.
You face a half-pot river bet with a hand that beats only bluffs. Change the bluff frequency and watch a profitable call become a losing one.
What you’ll learn
- Convert a price to a bluff threshold
- Count legal combinations and action weights
- Review calls without judging by the revealed hand
From the full lesson
First prove it is a bluff catcher
Referenced activities and other examples are available in the full lesson after sign-in.
Check whether you beat any value bets, lose to any supposed bluffs, or share any ties. If so, use total range equity instead of a simple bluff fraction. With no rake or further action, call threshold = bet ÷ (pot before bet + twice the bet). A half-pot bet needs 25% equity; a pot-sized bet needs one third.
From the full lesson
Use blockers after building the range
Referenced activities and other examples are available in the full lesson after sign-in.
Trace candidate hands through preflop, flop, turn and river. Remove illegal combinations, then weight how often each remaining hand makes this bet. Your cards can remove value and remove bluffs; both matter. One revealed bluff does not prove a player bluffs enough, and losing to value does not by itself make a mathematically sound call wrong.
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