It is common knowledge that every action, move,
play or concept in poker has an English term to refer to it. It is a sport in
which Shakespeare's language is very well established, a trend that players
must adapt to when they are beginners to start referring to every aspect
of poker by name.
One of the strangest and most unfamiliar
concepts to be found in the poker glossary is "valuff," a term
widely accepted in the global poker community but not actually a word as such.
Actually, "valuff" is a word formed
from the combination of "value" and "bluff". To
understand its meaning, one only has to refer to the meaning of these two words
to get an idea of where it comes from.
Let's start from the premise that a bet in
poker always has a justification. In poker, one either bets for value (value)
or one bets for bluffing (bluff). Over time, and in an affectionate way, it has
become accepted to call bets that have been made neither for value nor for
bluffing as valuff.
Moreover, given that a bet is highly likely to
be poorly made if it is not for either of these two things, the concept
"valuff" has been used to talk about those poorly made bets that are
neither one thing nor the other, and has been accepted to refer to poorly
placed bets or bets made when it is not the right time.
It is common for fishes and even "donk
players" to make valuffs frequently, especially on the river. The good
thing about these plays is that they do not cause headaches from a strategic
point of view. Playing well without making rookie mistakes like these
already penalizes those who have made their valuffs, so there is nothing
special to do to try to placate a side effect of these bets.
The only thing that valuffs raise is the
possibility of widening the profit margin of players who have seen this bet and
want to take advantage of the player's bad move. For this, it is advisable to lower
the aggressiveness a little to make the table put just enough pressure on
the fish or donkey who is betting badly. As long as the moment when he pays for
the others lasts, it is advisable to take advantage of it.
We can call "valuffs" to bad bets
made at any moment of the game, but especially on the river. However, not all
bets with weak hands on the river are necessarily valuffs.
Players with poker skills but who still have a
lot to learn often confuse valuffs with thin value bets, value bets that are
made considering that the number of hands that will pay in the
opponent's range is slightly higher than the hands in the opponent's range that
are ahead of our hand.
The key to differentiate this type of bets from
a well-founded bet is the intentionality, something that can be deduced
based on the opponent's cards if we have managed to calculate the range of
hands in which the opponent is moving.
Another important point: while valuffs are
usually made by inexperienced players, thin value bets are bets only
available to high-level players. This is because almost always, a player with
average hands will check-bet on the turn during a multiplayer pot. If we
check-call on the river, we will be making a value bet, since there will be
some worse hands that possibly pay, which benefits our winrate.
Rather scarce. We are talking about a type of
ill-founded bet that does not have a negative impact on the play of others, nor
does it compromise the rest of the table. Therefore, we are talking
about a type of bet that really has to pass without shame or glory, since the damaged
will be the player who has made it and that the rest can squeeze from time to
time.
It is not advisable to abuse the valuffs of
another player, especially if you want to profit from it. It is important that
the player who has made it does not start to fold in excess in order to
prevent his bets from being squeezed by the rest of the table.
Ultimately, the valuffs demonstrate
several things:
If you want to know more about the types of bets that exist in poker and how value bets and bluff bets are approached, take a look at our post:
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