Deception… Poker is a game of many faces, including deception. It offers many opportunities for taking the pot by being tricky. Bluffing is the most common form of deception. Stealing the blinds and check-raising also are viable examples. Here’s a rather unique example of tricky play—deception at its best.
 
You have been playing at that table for a while—long enough to have developed an image as a fairly tight player. Now you’re in the big blind, drawing to a straight after the flop. Your opponents don’t know this, of course. It’s a good size pot as the result of a raise and a re-raise before the flop. The turn puts a second club on the board. It didn’t help you at all but your opponents don’t know this, do they?
 
You have two opponents still in the pot. Neither is a calling-station—a player who can’t be forced to fold. The board comprises small and middle cards. That’s significant because of how the betting went before the flop. Raising and re-raising indicates high hole cards, possibly suited connectors, or perhaps a pocket pair. The flop and the turn very likely didn’t help either of your two remaining opponents. You have an open-ended draw to the high end of a straight. You fully intend to stay to the river, hoping to complete your straight. With eight outs yielding card odds of about 4-to-1 against you, the pot odds are extremely attractive, giving you a very favorable positive expectation:
 
Your hole cards: 10d-9d
The flop: 8c-7d-2h
The turn: 3c
 
Here’s where the deception comes in. So far you have played straightforward hold’em—nothing tricky. Here‘s where you use your image as a tight player and deception to improve your chances of taking the pot.
 
Before the dealer turns up the river card, you say to yourself in a voice loud enough to be heard by your two opponents: “Give me another club—another club—one more club, please.” At the same time, a little histrionics could help: Look directly at the dealer; stare at him. Show some emotion in your face—a little passion perhaps.
 
Lo and behold, on the river, the dealer turns up a third club on the board. That’s no great surprise; it’s bound to happen about 25 percent of the time. You didn’t make a straight. The only way to win this pot is by bluffing. Carrying the deception one step further, a small smile comes to your face. Your two opponents take note.
 
At that point, you bet out with confidence as if you are certain you hold the best hand. Don’t put all the chips into the pot at the same time, and don’t be too neat about it when you do so because you want your opponents to think you are a bit nervous, excited by making a club flush on the river. Unless one of your opponents happens to have a set or two clubs in the hole—not likely, they’ll both fold, leaving the pot for you. Victory! You smile to yourself as you rake in the chips. Pretty tricky, wouldn’t you say…
 
Comments?
 
Name It. Can you offer a descriptive name for this form of deception? There will be a prize for the best answer. My 14 year-old granddaughter, Esther Fayla Epstein (creator of the Esther Bluff), and I will be the sole judges. Send your candidate to geps@msn.com.
 
George “The Engineer” Epstein is the author of The Greatest Book of Poker for Winners! and Hold’em or Fold’em?—An Algorithm for Making the Key Decision and teaches poker at the Claude Pepper Sr. Citizen Center in Los Angeles. Contact George at geps222@msn.com.