Bluffing in MTT's

CraigSG1

I have a diary on the forum and over the past couple of months I've learnt a lot about my game and improved my discipline, identified a few leaks and some strengths. What I have noticed though is how I exit MTT's. The vast majority of the time it's when I've gone in ahead but not held up. The next is via coolers. That's not my problem as I know it happens. What I have noticed is that I've not gone out via a bluff. 

Now, this in some perverse way cannot be good? Does this mean I don't bluff enough in the big meaningful pots? Now, I don't know what a good bluff percentage should be or even if there should be one. I do bluff obviously but I'm wondering if I'm not aggressive enough?

I hope I'm explaining this correctly but should I be looking for a few (I know I don't have to go mental) more good bluffing spots to help me gain more chips and also help me get paid with bigger hands. As I said, I do bluff when I see a good spot and when I know I can pull off what I'm representing. But is it a good thing I'm not getting caught bluffing a lot? Does this mean I'm not bluffing enough?

I hope you get the gist of what I'm trying to say and can give me some advice. I know it's not about going mental, I'm just trying to find more ways to win the pots I'm involved in. 

Thanks. 

chicknMelt

If you dont get caught bluffing, your not bluffing enough

I would suggest that you might not be bluffing the river very often? which is probably when it would be for your tournament. Most people tend to bluff on the flop/Turn then give up on the river.

love a good old bluff shove on the river. dont half feel like an idiot when it goes wrong though.

Tahtrizzle

Sometimes when I play in middle stages, my play will be quite tight if my stack is healthy however I found myself to dwindle or be near to my tournament life as bubble approaches

I get what your saying and can definitely relate. What I learnt and this is recent is sometimes u just need to get the chips in the middle and build chips up and put pressure on other players. People will raise will all types of trash for you to fold but if you got a legitimate hand, need to be raising others. 

There's a saying along the lines of needing to put your tournament life on the line if your going to win a tournament. I think it's sooooo true (unless u quadrupled up in early stages)

Hope I made sense

Ps: the fact that you nit gone out by a bluff, wouldn't that mean your opponent had a legit hand to win?

Tahtrizzle

Btw. When I say legitimate hand, I mean like A10, KJ,K10,OH,Q10. These type of hands. Anything less than that with a bit of paint on en3 depends on opponents. 

mac24

most of my bluffs fail against someone who has the bottom pair or hits to a draw

THEROCK573

In Response to Re: Bluffing in MTT's:

I think it all depends on the situation. a player like yourself will pick up on a soft table and will quickly pick up on what hands players are playing and will pick your spots.. I(even although im not really a holdem player)have noticed it depends on the buy in of said tournament. in the freerolls u get people going all in with any 2 cards. then say the £2.30 buy ins its the same most play any hand they get.until u meet 1 of the tighter players.who as u know the majority of the time they only play premium hands..or at least that is what they want u too believe. then u get too the £5.50 tournaments most players are decent and know the basics but that does not mean they wont bluff So really i think it all depends how u feel about the hand when you see it.... as you know u can get it in good with aa and still lose too 23... thats the game of poker and why we love it...its never just black and white
Posted by churchy18

£5.50 tournaments most players are decent??? i think its about as bad as it gets, show me a winning £5.50 mtt reg who says the opposition is decent and il show you a liar. you would be very suprised how bad even the £22.00 standard is. the 5k gtd £55.00 bounty hunter has probably the best standard of player and even then in my opinion its around 20% good players, 30% competent players, 40% poor players and 10% out an out donkeys!!!

DoubleAAA

In Response to Re: Bluffing in MTT's:

In Response to Re: Bluffing in MTT's : £5.50 tournaments most players are decent??? i think its about as bad as it gets, show me a winning £5.50 mtt reg who says the opposition is decent and il show you a liar. you would be very suprised how bad even the £22.00 standard is. the 5k gtd £55.00 bounty hunter has probably the best standard of player and even then in my opinion its around 20% good players, 30% competent players, 40% poor players and 10% out an out donkeys!!!
Posted by THEROCK573

They're decent!  Well, I like them anyway