STOP SAYING you are raising or betting for information!

[bluesbassman]

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What do you mean "exploiting fold equity"? It doesn't make a lot of sense to describe things this way, IMHO. When I push river big % of my equity (if not all of it), is what we call "fold equity". That is true.

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Fold equity = (probability opponent will fold) x (chips you win if he does). You made bets on earlier streets to increase the values in that equation. Hence, you were exploiting fold equity.

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However, the previous bets are not "exploiting fold equity". They are bets that are meant to build the pot as that on the river I'll have the biggest possible pot I can possibly push into profitably and win it uncontested (river is obv a bluff). However these 2 earlier bets are definitely not value bets or bluffs in any normal sense.

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I agree the bets on earlier streets are not bluffs. They are bets to increase (i.e. exploit) fold equity. Not the same thing.

That's why I said it's more useful to think about showdown vs fold equity rather than "value" bets vs bluffs.

I would define a "bluff" to be a bet that represents a hand other than what you actually have. It can be placed to exploit either showdown OR fold equity. In the hand above, you bluff on the river to cash in on your fold equity.

Sometimes, a good play is to overbet the pot on the river with a monster to represent a weak hand. In that case, you are bluffing to exploit showdown equity.