The Book of Bluffs

The Book of Bluffs
Matt Lessinger
Warner Books
2005
ISBN 0-446-69562-9
13.95

     The Book of Bluffs is pretty straight forward in its title.  It provides 50 different situations, based on the cards for the most part, to bluff.  It does talk about the players and their tendencies, which is actually the most important part of bluffing, but the situations are based on a centralist point of view.  Each 'bluff' listed has a Degree of Difficulty, Rate of Success and Frequency.  Degree of Difficulty is obvious in how tough it is for you to do it.  Rate of Success is as well; however, I believe this is rather deceptive in that it more depends on who you are playing, not just a standard, 'this will work this often'.  He does give a caveat to that and states that nothing works along an even line, but the rating is what he expects along, as I stated earlier, a median or central point.  The Frequency listed is how often he believes it should be attempted, and really this runs along both monetary and believeability factors.  (If you bet 500 to win 5, it might work once, but you will lose more money than you will gain by repeating it often, and, the more you make the same move, the less chance they will believe you.)
     The important part, which he goes into for the reasons that bluffing is not simply the cards, is an attempt to explain the people with whom you are playing, and therefore, attempting to bluff.  This section of the book is what gives the rest of the book its credibility.  Without this section, I would think this book near worthless, due to the fact that some players cannot be bluffed.  It would be like telling you to run accross the street despite the traffic, since cars are required to stop for you.  Sooner or later you will get hit, and more likely, sooner than later.
     This book is a decent book for those that just cannot see places to bluff.  I believe there needs to be some background in the game before attempting many of these, and much of the success rate depends upon your reputation at the table.  If you try each of these in 50 straight hands, I promise you the last 40 are more likely to fail in their attempts.  It is a book for those with moderate skills and ready to move on, yet lack the knowledge to know where to bluff.  But, if you have unlimited funds, and can take some hits on your bankroll, give them a run.  You will learn spots to bluff and eventually begin to pick them well.

     I give this book a 5 hearts out of 10 rating.  It's is a good read, for any player with a decent understanding of the game, that hasn't figured out the openings for a bluff.  As a solid pocket Kings hand, 13.95 is not a bad pot odds call.