Bluffing: it’s perhaps the most exciting part of poker. When executed perfectly, the bluff can convince your opponent of anything, and win you their chip stack without a decent hand to in sight. Like the players say, cards only matter when you turn them over.
But those cards can mean a whole lot when your bluff has gone wrong. You know that sickly, “I just ate a bad burrito” feeling? That’s your gut instinct going haywire when your bluff flies off the rails and explodes in a fiery disaster. And, thanks to televised poker, we can watch these disasters again and again! Poker professionals (at least that’s what they call themselves) are recorded all over the place, trying their best to gun down their opponent with chips, only to get eaten alive by a hero call or a sick read.
So check out some terrible bluffs, by the “pros” themselves, posted here for your viewing pleasure. Here are the top 5 most backfiring bluffs online:
(1) You’re sitting at the table, deep into a tournament with only a few players left, and dealt KK. Whatever way you look at it, that’s a nice place to be. Well, it’s not a nice place to be when your opponent flops a set… Watch Mark Ristine slowly combust over the course of this hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sYpa8wd7CI
(2) Pocket kings can work out okay though! Darus Suharto liked his ace-queen a little too much here, however, and bluffed his way into (and lost) a monster 28 million chip pot at the 2009 World Series of Poker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSwo_8Ln0ok&NR=1
(3) Below, you can watch one of the most insane poker bluffs ever, by celebrated Viktor Blom. It’s good to be committed to making a convincing bluff, but it’s not good to be committed to make a terribly timed, definitely-going-to-lose bluff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASPKCtSBmSw
(4) Do you like flushes? I like flushes. I especially like king high flushes when I’m heads up. But do you know what Justin Bonomo likes better than king high flushes heads up? Jason Mercier bluffing his entire stack, making an almost quarter million dollar pot…into Bonomo’s king high flush. Sick hand, terribly played!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjtM2pwZwYc
(5) Gavin Smith, not my favorite poker player (not many people’s), can sometimes play some really good cards. Maybe I don’t give him enough credit. But check this video out: put under some serious pressure, against a stone cold bluff, and with only his 5 making a pair, Smith makes one of the best up-against-a-bluff-decisions you’ll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8tmQ8iWVZo
Backfiring bluffs…they’re like car wrecks. You just have to look as you drive by. Do you have a favorite backfiring bluff left off the list? Share in the comments!