I often encounter poker players who believe that making bluffs in low stakes cash games is effectively pointless. The rationale behind this is that players at these stakes are so bad that; a) they will not fold to bluffs; and b) they will not respond to any image these bluffs are trying to lay down (a big bluff in mid stakes games can often pay massive dividends later).
What these players (and most of the general public) are missing is that 99% of bluffs made by skilled players are actually small bets into small pots. The big river bluff where you throw your house and car keys into the middle is nearly guaranteed to lose them at any stake (there are a few exceptions to this – players like Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen make these plays at the highest stakes to exert total pressure over their opponents).
Hence the big bet bluff should basically never be used in low stakes hold’em or plo – it is just not profitable. Players at these stakes are not complete idiots, for the most part they are looking to play some cards, hit a few hands and hopefully make some money. Here lies the weakness that bluffing can exploit – these players are looking to hit hands.
When they miss their hand the money they have put in the pot is nearly always available to be stolen – one normal continuation bet will usually pick up the pot. When they do hit a hand they will usually go all the way with it (again we see why big bet bluffing does not work) – another weakness easy to exploit.
Due to the fact that most low stakes players are looking to just to hit hands, they actually play a very weak and predictable style of poker. The bluff is actually your key weapon in dispatching this type of calling station.
You simply raise any hand worth playing pre-flop, bet on the flop; and see what happens. If they miss the flop (which if they hold two non paired cards they will two-thirds of the time) they will nearly always fold. If they hit the flop, they will either call or raise your bet and you immediately know where you stand – you give up weak hands and continue to bet a strong one.
This strategy both picks up all the dead money (theoretically slightly less than two out of three heads-up pots), and also allows you to win most of the big pots as well. If you know that your opponent will go all the way with top pair, or keep calling big bets with draws just wait until you have big hands – don’t keep betting your weak hands. When you have sets, straights, or two pairs just bet hard every street – they will not fold if they have anything.
This situation is basically as close to poker nirvana as you can get. You always know where you are and your opponent never knows where they are. Bluffing is actually more important at the low stakes than it is at the high – there is so much more dead money to be stolen. Make sure you utilise the constant small bluff to your advantage. After all, isn’t stealing a hundred $1 pots just as effective as one $100 one?
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