Most poker players understand the difference between value-betting and bluffing, and have some understanding of when and why to do either. But as you move up to the higher-stakes games you will frequently encounter players whose hand-reading abilities are ver y well honed. These players are able to accurately put their opponents on hand ranges and predict what they might do with parts of them based on factors like history and game flow. And if you want to succeed against these players you need to make your play much less predictable.

One way of doing this is to make thinner value bets against players with whom you have some history and whom you have identified as likely to call you down lightly in certain situations.