The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker by Matt Lessinger

I read reviews that this is mostly Omaha and stud bluffs. That the book would cost you money at the tables, that some people could never bluff, that making a move with a fistful of outs is not a bluff.

Well, most of the bluffs in the book does cover hold'em. The omaha and stud examples are there for a reason: they are used to demonstrate a universal idea that can be used in all forms of poker. The author carefully explains why a bluff might work and masterfully includes bluffs that fail to show you where you might go wrong. Someone saying that making a move with 5 outs is not a bluff is probably not a winning player. And finally, if someone elects to never bluff, they are missing an important part of the game. Remember this quote from Tom McEvoy, "Poker is a game of people played with cards, not a game of cards played with people." If you sit at the table for a session or play a long online MTT and hope to come out ahead because you won a card catching contest, you are giving your opponents a tremendous edge.


Matt Lessinger shows you some easy bluffs we all do and advances to the bluffs that require the situation to be just right, you have to have a good read on your opponent, etc. The end of the book highlights the greatest bluffs and includes interviews with those involved in the bluff. These were bluffs from the WSOP. There were a few examples of keen bluffs from the WSOP 2003 and 2004 final table. I have both of those on dvd and it is incredible to watch the final table after reading about how a specific bluff came together and why it was attempted.

This book started out slow and once it got into the really advanced bluffs, I never put the book down. It shows you that with practice, you can look for great bluff opportunities at the table. To become a really well-rounded player, you need to have a few bluffs up your sleeve. This book provides the information to get you started in that direction. I am not someone who naturally likes to bluff or thought I would ever be interested, but once I tested a few out, I definitely saw a change in my results. I'm sure as time goes on, I will be able to recognize proper times to attempt a bluff and add more of them into my game plan.


This book was really well written. There was a nice mix of successful and busted bluffs to teach you based on the successes and failures of others. Matt explains why a bluff was successful or failed, which is important to keep you from making mistakes with your money. He also covers some of the best bluffs in WSOP history. Here, we see that to truly become a world class level player, the bluff must be used. It is such a powerful weapon that to never bluff would be giving too much advantage to your opponent. You didn't really think the guys who won all these poker tournaments caught the best cards the entire time did you? Definitely a 5 star poker book. I would highly recommend it to other players looking to add to their game.