This is the last part of our three part series on the importance of deception in poker. Warning: If you don’t use a scam, you won’t come home a winner. The previous column discussed bluffing, half-bluffing, stealing blinds, and building pots when you catch a monster’s hand. Let’s check out another deceptive tactic for building your pot.

Your goal is to build a pot. There are four somewhat similar trick tactics:

• Slow play – Don’t raise; encourage your opponent to stay in the hand, maybe even to bet or raise. Just call till the turn or river visit poker88 then raise their bet.
• Sandbags – Don’t open bets, consider raising after your opponent has bet.
• Trap – Play your hand so that your opponent never guesses its strength. Someone might try to bluff you or bet a weak hand which he or she might show without betting.
• Check for raises – This deceptive tactic is the most popular. Check with a firm hand, and then raise after the bet is followed by the caller.

Invert Say Tells is behaves (“body language”) gives hints about the player’s hand. You can be pretty sure that a player has caught a strong hand when he or she suddenly sits in his chair, grabs a bunch of chips before his turn to act, or studies hole cards for longer than usual.

These and others say, “he had a big hand.” Deliberately using the “hand-strong” command when executing a bluff is the reverse command.

“Bluffing inform” indicates that a player is trying to bluff. (See my book, The Art of Bluffing.) This includes rubbing his neck, covering his mouth with his hands, or leaning back in his chair. After catching a monster’s hand, use this as an upside down to convince your opponent that you are bluffing when you raise, so they are more likely to summon, thereby increasing the pot size.