Poker Semi-bluff Bids

Semi-bluffs are rampant in the Ante and Straddle game.

If you have established a reputation for conforming, as a general rule, to the well-established principles for playing where there are only the conventional Ante and Straddle to play for, you may, now and again, think it worthwhile to depart from them.

But such occasions are (or ought to be) few and far between, for, unless you are the Ante or the Straddle, there is no point in playing these pots at all.

By any departure from the norm you are almost certainly risking more than you stand to gain.

For example, to open on a bobtailed Flush, or on a low pair where you are one of the first four, has nothing whatever to commend it.

Any subsequent player with a good enough hand to double on will raise you before the buy, and then you must either sacrifice four chips or put up four more with the relevant odds heavily against you.

And, as you will be the first to speak after the buy, you will be laying yourself open to another double which may or not be a bluff.

There is more scope for semi-bluff bids if you are Ante or(should the Ante be playing) the Straddle. The Ante will perhaps double before the buy, holding, say, a pair of Aces.

If the Straddle accepts the double, the Ante should normally buy honestly, giving himself the best chance of finishing with the better hand.

If 'sandbagging' is frowned upon, he should then 'check dark.' If the Straddle has redoubled before the buy, this may or may not be a bluff; it's then up to the Ante to surrender eight chips; to accept the redouble.

Or, against a timid player--- to double again and draw no cards. Frequent indulgence in these antics may prove expensive and they should not often be resorted to.

However, there is so much more room for semi-bluff betting; with several 'sporting' players at the table, it may become very expensive.

For example, D--- the first player to speak--- has put up four chips before looking at his hand. The next player, E, promptly says, 'Make it eight.' F passes. G looks at his hand; he has, say, Knaves up; probably the best hand at the table.

All the same, he is on the horns of a dilemma. If he plays for eight, there are still three players to speak, one of whom may raise the stake again.

Suppose that D, having looked at his hand, says, 'make it sixteen,' and that E immediately counters with, 'Make it twenty-four.' G would almost certainly be well-advised to throw in.

It may be that neither E nor D has, the moment, as good a hand as his is (i.e., E has a pair of Aces and D has four cards to a Flush) but he--- G--- is in the unenviable position of being 'between the upper and nether millstones.'