# Deceptive Play

Up until now we have mostly been discussing "honest" play. You bet and raise when you think you have the best hand, call when you think you have a good chance of becoming the best hand, and fold when you think you will not end up with the best hand.

Deception is the opposite concept. It is playing a strong hand as if it was weak, and a weak hand as if it was strong. There are two reasons for deceptive play: - Induce a mistake: make an opponent fold a hand which had you beat or make them bet or call with a hand you have beat - Information hiding: Mask the true value of your cards, so opponents who are trying to determine what cards you hold from your actions have a tougher time of it.

### Slow Playing

Slow-playing is the practice of making a string hand appear weak. Typically that means you check or call in situations you would have bet or raised. You must be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot though. If you never call (always fold or raise) except when you are being deceptive, then your deception will reveal more than playing honestly would have! The check-raise is the most basic form of slow-play, you check and then when someone bets you raise. This works best against very aggressive players you feel confident will in fact bet after you check. A slow-play is risky in two ways: the opponent may not bet so you end up making less than you would have by just betting normally, and an opponent's hand may improve and overtake your own.

### Bluffing

Bluffing is the practice of making a weak hand appear strong. A semi-bluff is a bluff where you feel you don't have the best hand now, but could possibly improve to be the best hand. A pure bluff is one where you feel you have the worst hand and have no real chance to catch up. All bluffs on the river are pure bluffs since there is no further chance to improve. A typical semi-bluff would be to bet on the flop when you have four of one suit. With a bluff you are typically trying to win by getting everyone to fold to you.

### Information Hiding

Information hiding is a defensive aspect of deceptive play. You are not so much concerned about extracting extra value on a single hand, or bluffing someone out of a single pot. Instead you are worried that if you do not play deceptive sometime then when you do get a legitimate hand it will be too easy for an opponent to fold correctly, and when you do have a weak hand it is too easy to push you out of pots. You are trying to protect your future action as much as make a particular hand profitable.

### Mixing Up your Play

Determining how much deception to mix into your game is difficult and debatable. To a large degree it depends on how skilled your opponents are--deception only works against those opponents perceptive enough to try to put you on hands and notice your betting patterns. In general deception is used more in no limit poker since large bets make it more likely people will fold to a bluff, and the payoff for a successful slow-play is potentially very high. In many full-table limit poker games deception (especially bluffing) is less useful than many new players believe. It all depends on the opponents however, some players are very susceptible to being bluffed out of hands and others seem to never fold. In short-handed and heads-up limit games deception becomes much more important from an information hiding perspective, as with few opponents it becomes easier to exploit players who are playing very straight-forwardly.