Bluffing is a core skill in poker, but not all bluffs are the same. Some bluffs feel obviousโbusted draws, missed overcards, and clear air hands that have no chance of winning at showdown. These are natural bluffs, and most players instinctively use them.
But what happens when those hands don’t really exist? What do you do when the river completes almost all available draws, leaving you without clear bluffing candidates? This is where unnatural bluffs come into playโa concept that separates the strongest players from the rest.
Push play (or continue reading) to break this concept down:
What Is An Unnatural Bluff In Poker?
A natural bluff is easy to recognize. Itโs usually a missed drawโlike a busted flush or straight drawโthat has no showdown value (SDV). These hands have one option left: bet and hope to force a fold.
An unnatural bluff, on the other hand, is a hand that has some showdown value but should still be turned into a bluff to maintain balance. This might include:
- Weak pairs that arenโt strong enough to win at showdown
- Ace-high hands that block key value hands from your opponentโs range
- Middle-strength hands that prevent your range from being too value-heavy
When you donโt include unnatural bluffs, your bluff:value ratio can get super predictable when the runout completes just about every draw imaginable.
If you are familiar with GTO, this should make sense. But if you are newer to GTO bluffing: start with this guide first.
Why Bother With Unnatural Bluffs?
Poker isnโt just about playing your own cardsโitโs about playing against your opponentโs range. If your betting range on the river only includes strong hands and obvious busted draws, your opponents can call correctly every time when there aren’t many “busted draws” given the runout.
Think about it: if the river completes heaps of draws and you only bluff with hands that completely missed, your opponent knows that your bet is very value-heavy. But when you mix in unnatural bluffsโsuch as turning a weak pair into a bluffโyou make it harder for them to play and adjust correctly.
This is why unnatural bluffs are so effective. They allow you to bluff even when obvious bluffing combos arenโt available.
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Unnatural Bluffing: Hand Example
Letโs look at a practical example to see this concept in play.
๐น The Hand Setup:
- Youโre on the button, and you RFI.
- The big blind calls, and we go heads up to the flop.
- The board comes Aโ 10โฃ 9โฆ. You fire a continuation bet, and the big blind calls.
- The turn is the 7โ , completing some straight draws. You bet again, and the big blind calls.
- The river is the Jโฆ, completing even more draws. The big blind checks.
At this point, most natural bluffs have disappeared. The flush and straight draws got there, and if you only bluff with hands that completely missed, you simply won’t have many air combos.
๐ This is where unnatural bluffs become crucial.
Instead of giving up, you should look at hands like 9x, 7x, or even some small pocket pairs as potential bluffing candidates. These hands block your opponentโs calling range while also ensuring your river bets remain balanced.
Without these sorts of combos, your bluffing frequency on the river would be far too low and much too predictable.
How To Add Unnatural Bluffs Into Your Strategy
Adding unnatural bluffs to your strategy requires practice, but here are three steps to get started:
1๏ธโฃ Identify spots where natural bluffs donโt exist. If the board completes almost all draws, recognize that natural bluffing hands are gone.
2๏ธโฃ Look for hands that block strong calling hands. Hands that contain key blockers (like an Ace of a completed flush draw) make great bluffing candidates.
3๏ธโฃ Practice with hand reviews and solvers. Using tools like GTO+ can help you identify these spots, even across low-frequency runouts.
By incorporating unnatural bluffs, you make your game less predictable and more difficult to exploit.
Final Thoughts
Bluffing isnโt just about picking the easiest hands to betโitโs about crafting a balanced, unpredictable strategy that forces your opponents into tough spots. By incorporating unnatural bluffs, you ensure that your river betting range isnโt too value-heavy or too bluff-heavy on specific runouts, making you much harder to play against.
If you want to go even deeper on this topic, including proper bluffing across runouts that happen more often, start reading GTO Poker Gems 2 today. This book goes into tons more detail and gets into specific GTO concepts that frame your entire poker strategy.
Learn more and get your copy of GTO Gems 2 today.
The next time you find yourself on the river without an obvious bluffing hand, ask yourself: Do I have an unnatural bluffing candidate here? If the answer is yes, it might be time to pull the trigger.
