Ever heard of someone calling on a bluff? Now you have. The reason to call isn't because you think you'll outdraw your opponent, but so you can bluff them off the pot later. Let's say you call a preflop raise with 67s. The flop is JJ2 (rainbow). Your opponent bets their standard follow through bet and you put them on a pair or AK/AQ. You have a strong feeling that they wouldn't bet so much if they had a Jack.

What would you do if you had AJ in this position? Most people would just call here and wait for the turn to build the pot any further. So play your crap hand like you had AJ. If you play it like AJ, he will probably put you on a Jack and be able to release their hand before showdown. Even if they have aces, they can't call a huge turn or river bet unless they fill up or have a stronger read on you.

There are many keys to this move and you'll need to be careful using it. Both of you have to have large enough stacks that a turn/river reraise is a substantial amount. Ideally, you'd be able to make a pot-size reraise on the turn and still have enough left over that they'll be threatened by another bigger bet on the river. They will be far less likely to call the turn bet if they think another bet is coming on the river.

They have to be capable of folding an overpair. Not everyone can fold aces. That is why so many people complain about them. Aces lose bad players a lot of money. Be sure your opponent has the ability to think about what cards you may have and know how to fold a hand once in awhile.

You'll need a straight-forward or tight image for this to work as well. I've been looked up by a small pair doing this after I had shown too many bluffs in a single session. He made a good (still pretty foolish for the price I was charging) call and the move backfired.

Having position is also a huge help. Position is important because it keeps the other player from playing defense. Some players will check behind on the turn and call a bet on the river with their overpair. It doesn't give you a very good chance at a big bluff and will keep the pot small making it easier for them to call with a wider range of hands. Checking an overpair on the turn and a paired board without any draws also induces worse hands to bet the river. So having position makes this smooth-call/bluff move on the turn allows you to bet if they check and that is important because you both know the river bet will be larger.

It would also be ideal if you were the last person to call on the flop to insure that everyone else gets out of the way. When more than just the preflop raiser stays after that flop, the 3rd party could most certainly have a monster.

Last thing to consider in this situation is that really good players will still bet their Jack. I hardly ever slowplay (only against the appropriate opponents), so if I bet the JJx flop, I could really have the Jack. Be careful of weak leads from the better players.

Mediocre players are the best opponents to use this move on. They've learned enough to know how to fold and they aren't tricky enough to bet their monster on the flop.

Check out doubleas's book, Pressure Poker: Poker Strategy and Tools to Improve Your Game (also available in the PokerSavvy Shop)