Journey to became a Poker Pro

If you want to bluff someone in a no limit texas holdem game, who already has most of their chips invested in a pot, you will likely not be able to scare them away with a big raise. For example, in a pot where my opponent has invested 500 chips and he only has 100 chips left, putting them all in will not likely make them fold unless they have absolutely nothing and they just tried to pull a bluff on you. I would say that 90% of poker players call if they are pot committed, even when they don’t have the greatest hand. Don’t bother bluffing under those circumstances. This kind of situation happens more frequently in online texas holdem games where just a click of a button makes the players go all-in.

A classic example in poker tournaments is when going all-In Against a Pot-Committed Short Stack

This classic poker mistake can simply be avoided by paying attention to the opponents’s stack. If you are up against a stack that is significantly smaller than yours, and after three rounds of betting that finds you both substantially invested in the pot, you go all-in on the river with next to nothing. You figure that he's not going to risk going broke to call you, but what you failed to notice is that he only has a few chips in front of him in comparison to the chips in the pot. If he's got anything, he's going to call you. He might not be happy about it, but he will call, and your attempt to scare him will result in him stacking even more of your chips.
In this situation, you will need to make your bluff before your opponent has committed himself to the pot. How do you know when such is the case? Well, generally, if a player has more of his chips in the pot than in his stack, then he is more or less pot committed, and it will be very hard for him to fold his hand. In a texas holdem tournament, your opponent is also pot-committed when he believes that folding will leave him with so few chips that he won't have much of a chance in the tournament anyway. He probably should have pushed them in already, but even if he hasn't done so, you will have a hard time getting him to fold here. Don't get greedy. Check it down, and if he bets, then make a decision based on the value of your hand. Don't try to bluff someone who is mathematically obligated to call you. Good luck on your live or online texas holdem games and check this section again for more one minute poker tips.