Anatomy Of A Bluff

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I empty the clip. A triple barrel bluff. The villain is tanking. My heart is leaping out of my mouth. It's for a lot of money. A month's salary for me at one point in my pre-poker career.

Would he call? Moments earlier I got sucked out by a five-outer. Maybe he thinks I am tilting. But he's a smart player. And I believe he thinks I'm fairly good too. He knows that I know that I appear to be tilting. So I might be less likely to be trying to pull off a huge bluff. Perhaps that's a good reason to do it right now. Who knows what level he is thinking on?

30 seconds of his time-bank remaining. 30 more seconds of me mentally, and sometimes loudly, shouting 'Fold!'. I am playing five more tables. I have important spots on two. I try to make good decisions on them. But I don't spend much time there owing to them being small pots. All my energy is focused on manifesting a fold.

I like my bluff. The board is good for my range. My hand selection is good. And although I don't block his strongest value, I unblock his call twice, fold river hands. I am also at the bottom of my range. So I have to go for it.

15 more seconds. The tension is too much, I take my eyes off this table. Like the footballers who stand with their back towards the goal as their teammate goes to take a shot in the penalty shoot-out.

I look back.

Five more seconds to go. This is not a good sign. If tanked this long, he's more likely to call than fold. If he's thinking logically, he might find a fold. But I'm afraid of the 'Fuck it. I call.'

Two more seconds. I can almost see a 'Call' and 'You Lost' animation coming in the last second. Add to it the embarrassment of having to show the bluff.

'Fold.' Phew! A big deep breath. I take a sip of water and glance a peek at my day's winnings graph.

On to the next hand.