Semi Bluff

The term semi-bluff describes a poker hand that does not have a made hand yet but has the potential to improve to a strong holding on the following streets. This term refers to a draw that you decided to bet with.

Usually, semi bluffing hands include straight and flush draws and some runner-runner combinations that can hit very big hands by the river.

For example, if a player has JT on 982 and he is betting into the opponent, you can say he is semi-bluffing. At this point, the player is only holding J-high, so he is not betting for value. That said, his hand can improve to a straight with any 7 or Q, and hitting J or T would give him a top pair, so we can’t strictly call it a bluff, either.

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