If you want to go far in tournaments, you need to win some hands when you don’t have the goods. This means you have to make some bluffs. Read on and you’ll see some types of bluffs that are used.

The bluffs you might see can be as ordinary as an attempt to steal the blinds, to very complex schemes. You’re behind or have no cards, but you want those chips. You need to get a fold.

Stealing the blinds is picking a spot to make a raise with the hope of all remaining players folding. This can be done from any position as long as you are the first to act. When you are a short stack this is usually an all in bet. As a big stack, this can raise will vary to match the situation of the remaining players stacks, and their tendencies.

One of the most powerful plays in poker is the check raise. You are in the big blind and call a raise from the button. You miss the flop completely.

You check and he bets the pot. You come back with a pot sized, or more, re-raise. If he doesn’t fold, you will stop betting and cut your losses.

You can also use the semi bluff. You have KQ of hearts. You have called a raise.

The flop shows J74 with two hearts. When your opponent raises you have to decide how to play this. I think here you can go all in, and put your opponent to the test.

If he folds, this is fine. If you get called you still can win. You have at least nine outs. This is a typical semi-bluff.

Here’s a different type of bluff. You are on an open ended straight draw and have called a raise on the flop and the turn. You are first to act and the only chance to win the pot is to get a fold. Your opponent has raised twice so this is tricky, he might be very strong.

Now you make a small raise. This is designed to confuse your opponent into thinking you have been slow playing a big hand. This looks like a value bet that is begging for a call. This play requires your opponent to understand that the bet represents a strong hand that you have been disguising.

This is just a small sample of the types of plays that you need to use to keep building your stack. If you want to go deep in tournaments, you need to bluff. You must make moves like these to make chips with weak cards.