There are a few variants of semi-bluff. In case you are in early position you may:

• Bet on the flop and the turn;

• Check – call on the flop and check – raise on the turn;

• Check – call on the flop and bet on the turn.

In case you are in late position you have two options:

• You can bet (raise) on the flop and bet on the turn after your opponent has checked;

• You can call on the flop and raise on the turn (in case you need to play against an aggressive player).

In order to get less readable you need to use different variants of semi bluffing although there are cases when a particular style or method of playing is preferred. For instance, if you have a lot of outs (flush draw plus straight draw or over -cards), you need to play aggressively on the flop. In case your opponent raised during the pre -flop from late position (i.e. maybe he is trying to steal the blinds), you should be willing to raise or check –raise on the turn. Analogically you can play against tight – aggressive players, they usually try to fire the “second barrel” and they are more willing to fold in respond to an aggression.

In order to hide somehow your semi – bluff, from time to time you need to play strong hands as well. In most cases the scenario is the same but there is an exception: check – call on the flop and bet on the turn from early position. Although this variant of semi – bluff is very “cheap”, with a strong hand you most probably will check – raise on the flop, so maybe it is better not very often to use this type of playing like a semi – bluff since it is easy to read.

Of course, you don’t need to use semi –bluffing every time you have a draw, you need to change your style of playing. Therefore, it is better to check – raise on the flop and bet on the turn against a tight – aggressive player. Check – call on the flop and bet on the turn is better to use against a passive player (a good support for your bet on the turn will be an over card on the flop which will confuse your opponent or improvement of your draw hand). The check –raise situation on the turn generally is the same, except for the fact that the opponent should be an aggressive one. This makes sense, since the aggressive opponent will place a bet on the turn more often than the passive player and will allow you to check – raise. The passive opponent will not do that so it will be better for you to bet yourself when you play against such a player.