I am a truly horrible bluffer, and this is a huge leak that I really need to work on. I semi-bluff all the time, whether it be the AK semi-bluff after raising or draw semi-bluffs, which do often take down the pot immediately but which I back away from after a call when I miss. But I'm absolutely horrible at taking down pots with air, particularly after the flop. So, I'm hoping that you guys can help me out. I know Kenny is a very good bluffer live and ice has certainly gotten very good online and may also be great at it live (just don't know about the latter) and I'm sure there are others who are very skilled at this. Anyhow, I think I'm extremely good at extracting value but extremely bad when it comes to bluffing--which in my case is particularly horrible since in live games I convey an incredibly tight image, making bluffing much more attractive.

I'll start with an example from Sat. night where I made a completely inept bluff. Reasonable player (i.e., capable of being bluffed) makes it 5 to go in MP (1/2 game). I have about 425 at this point and he covers (deep stack is imo good for bluffing) and look down on 8h7h in BB. I make it 15 to go.

That was already my first mistake, as I make it 20 on AA here, but he probably doesn't know that entirely, although he may sense something. Also, his raise to 5 is indicative of something speculative and weak, although I wasn't sure just what.

Flop comes 962 with 2 diamonds. I bet out 20, and he calls. Ok, usual semi-bluff. Turn offsuit 2, and I check. This was bad. If I bet near full pot, this player is capable of laying down a draw, and that's probably what he's on.

Now river comes Ad, and I bet 3/4 pot. Horrible again. His likely draw has hit, and one of the ways I do extract a lot of value is being full when they always at least call with flushes on paired boards. But I'm caught between two worlds. Anyhow, he calls with KdXd.

Some initial conclusions: First, even deep, I need to start out bluffing with position. It's easier to put them on a hand, and I'm just no good at bluffing at this point, so better to start with the basics.

Second, identify the players capable of being bluffed, and at the 1/2, that's certainly not all of them. Deep players often are in this category, though. And it's very important to be able to draw the sometimes fine line between loose players and stations. As in my inept example, some of these 1/2 players will call basically any bet with their diamonds here, others will fold the turn if you bet near pot. And even with the stations, if you can really put them on diamonds here, then the bluff isn't necessarily bad since the river usually misses them, and it's now possible to take down the pot with a normal river bet.

Third, decide on a hand range and follow through to the end. It's not horrible to give up the bluff on the river if you can't stay consistent with your hand range. Also, for consistency, be more willing to bet overpairs or TPTK with position at 1/3 to 1/2 pot and track what they'll call with. That's another reason that position is an advantage: I often check-call with these hands OOP, so OOP i'm repping a much stronger hand if I bet into villain, and that becomes less plausible if I do it too often.

Then some aspects having to do with reads: I'm not aware of tells I'm giving with announcing or not annoucing bets or the way I announce, etc. But I really need to get into the habit of just always stating a number in a calm-assertive manner after going through my various calculations, then counting out the chips and moving them in in the same way with my right hand (I always keep my chips on the right).

I'd like to get good at this at the 1/2, where the money is small enough that I'm more comfortable with it and where there are lots of players that one might call loose but sane, and that's the best type to bluff imo.

Additional suggestions very much appreciated.