Most people know what a bluff is, but a semi-bluff? Bluffs have become so associated with daily life that the word has meanings outside the poker table; semi-bluffs, however, have application only within the game of poker.

Clarifying the Meanings

Bluffing is doing your best to make your opponents believe that you have nuts when you, in fact, have a marginal hand at best. You accomplish this through continuous betting and raising until other players decide to fold and you’re left holding the pot.

“Semi-bluffing” is, in a sense, a kind of ‘progressive’ bluffing which can be done in community card games like Hold’em because of the way the game is played. Like a ‘normal’ bluff, you start off with a perceivably weak hand. However, your strategy is designed partly to make your opponents fold, but primarily to give you time to get your chance to make your hand really strong.

Semi-Bluffing Illustration

To better understand the play, here’s an example. You’re holding 7d8d. During the pre-flop, a player raises which generally means he may be holding a high pair, probably a QQ or AA. Rather than fold, you raise, too – in effect, trying to bluff your opponent to believe you have better cards than what you actually do and thereby give up the hand.

Thus, a semi-bluff starts out much like a real bluff. However, you’re not particularly aiming to make your opponents fold. You are actually setting the stage for stealing the blinds even while you wait to see the flop.

The flop comes out Jd9d9s – you’re well on the way to either a flush or straight flush for you if 10d comes out on the turn. All of your opponents bar one folds. The remaining player raises. You, in turn, raised the bet further.

The turn comes down 5d – you’ve got a flush with a Jack kicker which is a good hand but not good enough if your opponent also has a flush with a Queen kicker. He checks and the ball is in your court. You have a choice of check-raising to see what he’s going to do but you go with your gut and raise – at which point, he folds and you’re home with the pot.

You show your cards and he flips his cards in disgust – he’s got K3d; he’d have won if he’d called no matter what the river is – he assumed that you were holding Qd10d for a straight flush.

This is a progressive bluff – you were bluffing from the pre-flop but your hand improved with the flop and turn – not great cards, as your opponent’s hand showed but enough for a good fight if it came to that. Unfortunately for him, he folded to your bluffs and lost.