How to Make Yourself Unreadable While Playing Poker
Bluffing is a great tactic to winning a game of poker. By studying the faces and actions of your opponents, you can strategically plan on bluffing them. But what if you are the one being bluffed and are being forced to fold secretly? The perfect way to have a very high chance to winning the pot is to bluff and make yourself “unreadable”.
What is “unreadable” in poker? This character ability, when mastered, will make the opponents hard to know your next move. Will you be raising? Or betting? Or checking? They will don’t know. So how will you make yourself unreadable?
First, you must change your betting actions. Don’t raise too often or call often. Consider betting a little or folding sometimes. If you have raised a lot of times during the previous rounds but have won only a few times, an opponent may have profiled you already.
Second, be aggressive. Just be sure that you are on the right table. If you are in a table that is full of aggressive, every player may have read each other entirely. Being in this kind of table is dangerous since there would be a lot of pre-flop raises and bets. Later, in the showdown, the entire big pot may be going to somebody making the others lose their entire chips. If you are a newbie, this table is too advanced for you.
Third, don’t show your cards. If you do show your cards when your cards are strong, they know that you play your games only when you are strong and that you have no ability in bluffing. Since you have to also bluff in games of poker, don’t show your cards. Doing this will make your style mysterious and unreachable.
Fourth, memorize your card. If you tend to check your cards every time a new card is laid on the table, don’t make a mistake doing this only when you are nervous about your starting cards. Assuming that you hold a three and a five card of hearts and you predict a straight or a flush. The flop shows a four of hearts or a seven of hearts, don’t check your cards and make sure you hold a couple of hearts. This gesture will make your opponent conceive an idea that you have a chance or that you hold a couple of cards that are not garbage. Keep your cards facing down.
Fifth, know your opponents. If you know how your opponent plays or if you have studied your opponents carefully, you will know when you can fold and avoid being bluffed. The game play will be slight predictable so you have to keep your guard. It will be your great defense when you are threatened.
Sixth, master the art of bluffing. If you don’t know how to bluff, you won’t know when you are being bluffed. Know the right time of bluffing and who to bluff. If you keep on bluffing, even with a straight face, your opponents will already know who you are. Soon you will be seeing yourself trapped in your opponent’s bluff-back strategy.