Firing Bullets
Whenever you hear the terms firing bullets in poker, it is referring to a late position player who is betting into a pot and not holding any cards that have actually connected with the flop. This is a standard bread and butter move that many aggressive players make and is constantly used to put pressure on out of position opponents.
This move is part of a small ball play strategy that allows you to accumulate trips by representing the cards that have actually flopped on the board. It works particularly well against players who are weak or are unlikely to play back at bets from the button if they are out of position.
If the first bullet bet is called, many aggressive players will again fire a second round of bullets at the turn card. This is done again to represent what is on the board and to put pressure on an out of position opponent. This play works especially well when a scare card appears on the board that is either a high scare card like an ace or a king, or a card that completes a flush or a straight. Timid players will tend to fold here and give up a nice pot.
A third bullet on the river can also be fired, but this is a very brave move. By this time, even the most aggressive of players are likely to stop betting unless they have connected with the board, but aggression is what wins in poker so the most aggressive players love to push all in at this point and force the out of position player to make a very difficult decision, best if it Is for their tournament life.
Practice firing bullets at the right opponents. It can win you a lot of small pots and net you some large ones as well.
