Sklansky and odds on bluffing

Hi, everyone, I am fairly new to poker and have begun reading Sklansky's theory of poker. I was wondering if anyone can translate this paragraph for me:

"When using game theory to decide whether to call a possible bluff--assuming your hand can beat only a bluff and assuming your judgement doesn't give you a hint--you must determine the odds your opponent is getting on a bluff. Make the ratio of the calls to your folds the same as those odds. If your opponent is getting 4 to 1 odds on a bluff, you must call randomly four out of five times to make that bluffing unprofitable."

All I need to know is what it means to "get 4 to 1 odds on a bluff" Does that mean 4 times it isn't a bluff and one time it is, or vice versa? Or does it mean neither of those two things. Much help appreciated.

Denouement

You're just gonna post this everywhere until you get a response arn't you?

I'd need a little context to figure out what he's saying. You could probably search the 2+2 forums and find a thread or two on the subject.

Though, I guess the guy was bluffing at a pot 4 times the size of his bet. So he'd need to be called on that bluff 4 times or whatever times to make it unprofitable.

-'rilla

{This post has been removed}

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by denouement

All I need to know is what it means to "get 4 to 1 odds on a bluff" Does that mean 4 times it isn't a bluff and one time it is, or vice versa? Or does it mean neither of those two things. Much help appreciated.

Denouement

---

"4 to 1 odds on a bluff" means that he must be successful in his bluffing attempt at least 4 out of 5 attempts to break even.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aceofone

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by denouement

All I need to know is what it means to "get 4 to 1 odds on a bluff" Does that mean 4 times it isn't a bluff and one time it is, or vice versa? Or does it mean neither of those two things. Much help appreciated.

Denouement

---

"4 to 1 odds on a bluff" means that he must be successful in his bluffing attempt at least 4 out of 5 attempts to break even.

---

Don't you mean unsuccessful? I don't usually bluff at pots with 4x pot bets.

4:1 is the ratio between his bet and the pot he will win if it is successful. So it only needs to work 2 out of 5 times to be profitable and 1 out of 5 times to break even.

-'rilla

My bad, I went back to TOP and read the "Expectation" chapter, and you are correct.