You are going to teach yourself how to overbet bluff on the flop. Does that sound tough or impossible to you? Teach yourself a strategy you’ve never attempted nor learned about?

It’s not tough nor impossible, it’s just going to take a bit of imagination and action.

You can do this!

Listen to the Part 1 podcast episode #505 as you follow along below:

Part 1: The Teach Yourself to Overbet Bluff Challenge

Here’s my challenge to you: Teach yourself how to overbet bluff on the flop.

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are right.”

If you believe that you can teach yourself to make a new play, even one that you’ve never thought of in the past you can do it. I am telling you right now that you can teach yourself to make a play. 

You are a poker player, a poker studier and a poker exploiter. You have learned how to make exploitative plays based on what somebody else teaches you.

This is the same thing, you’re just teaching yourself now.

I believe in you!

Visualize the Situation

You’re a poker coach. One of your students comes to you and asks, “How do I overbet bluff the flop?”

Let’s imagine you know the answer to that question and you want to teach your student.

Devise a strategy to teach your student right now.

The easiest way to do this is to visualize yourself in that situation:

• You are the open-raiser in the LP with XX.
• The small blind folded and the big blind is the only caller.
• The pot is 6.5bb and you didn’t hit TP on the flop of XXX. Your opponent checked to you.
• You realize this is a good spot to overbet bluff. You fire for 8bb’s into the 6.5bb pot, and he folded.
• You took it down with an overbet… way to go!

Now, visualizing this hand, what made this a good overbet bluff?

• What did you notice about this situation that helped your bluff succeed?
• What was it about your opponent that led you to believe that this would be a good bet?
• Why did you go over pot as opposed to just ½ pot?
• What was it about the flop cards that led you to believe this was a good bet?
• What was it about your relative position to the opponent that led you to believe this would be a good bluff bet?

Do the Work

Take the time right now and whip out a piece of paper and write down 3-5 points of strategy that your student can use to find and pull the trigger on solid overbet bluffing opportunities.

Do it right now before you continue on this page.

Now, that bullet point list is your focus over the next 3 days as you play to learn and refine this strategy.

Your 3-day Goal

Day 1: Make 3 successful flop overbet bluffs. Count the number of successful flop overbet bluffs you make.

Day 2: Make +1 more successful flop overbet bluffs over yesterday. If you made 4 successful overbet bluffs yesterday, today you’re striving for 5.

Day 3: Make +2 more successful flop overbet bluffs over yesterday. So, if you hit 6 on day 2, today you’re striving for 8 successful overbet bluffs.

Refine the Strategy with Experience 

As you’re playing and striving for overbet bluffs, you must have your piece of paper with your bullet points in front of you. As you’re playing and gaining experience by making overbet bluffs, you’re going to learn what works and what doesn’t work. 

Some cool realizations will come to you as you experiment with this play. Write these realizations on your piece of paper.

At the end of your session, whip out a fresh piece of paper. Now with your original bullet points and the new things that you learned with experience, you’re going to refine your strategies for day 2 and rewrite your list of bullet points.

Then you’re going to do the same thing on day 2. Use this fresh piece of paper with these new bullet points to refer to as you play. As you gain more experience with more successful and unsuccessful overbet bluffs, new realizations will come to you. Write ‘em down! Then at the end of the session, you’ll refine your strategies again on a new piece of paper for use on day 3.

Take Action!

Now the ball’s in your court!

Teach yourself to overbet bluff the flop over the next 3 days. Follow the instructions above.

Then, when Part 2 is released in 3 days, compare your strategies with mine. You can now play another session with mine and your strategies in mind, experiment more, and maybe come to even more realizations.

Refine your list of strategies again and play some more!

You’re going to turn yourself into a flop overbet bluffing expert this week.

Get excited and ganbatte!

Part 2: Flop Overbet Bluffing Progress Report

I made 16 overbets with 13 being bluffs and 11 of those successful (85% success). However, I don’t have a great grasp on this strategy just yet.

So, here’s my progress report in an exclusive video you can only find on this page:

Download and listen to the Podcast #506 taken from the video above:

What makes a great flop overbet bluff opportunity?

This answer to the question above is a work in progress:

• Be in position.
• Target a player whose range doesn’t interact well with the board.
• Good flops:
  • Dry flops are best because they’ll have less solid draws to continue with.
  • Paired flops and super wet, scary flops like QhJh9s.
• Target players who can find a fold. TAG and LAG; not calling stations.
• Hold drawing equity and backup equity. In case they call, you want lots of turn “equity outs” possible.
  • A nfd + overs + bdsd is great! AcJc on Tc9s4c.
  • If you get called, the turn can complete the flush w/any club.
  • You could hit an A or J for TP.
  • A Q or 8 gives you an oesd, a K or 7 improves your bdsd to a gs.
  • That’s 7 equity outs (any club, Ace, Jack, Queen, 8, King or 7 adds equity to your hand)! You can barrel for value or with a better drawing hand now.
• When OOP, check and if he checks back, overbet turn. His flop xb = weak pairs and draws. Fire!

Part 3: How to Overbet Bluff the Flop

After I make 50 total overbet bluffs, I think I’ll have a good grasp on this strategy and I’ll release part 3.