General Poker Strategy: Art of Bluffing

Individual’s who wish to be successful at poker must learn to master the art of bluffing. If a person never bluffs, it is much easier for their opponents to strategize against them. Essentially, it puts them at a disadvantage. On the other end of the spectrum are those that bluff all of the time. These individuals hurt their chances as much as those who don’t bluff at all. If a person automatically assumes that you are bluffing then you’re probably doing it too much. Individuals that can be counted on to bluff will find that the individuals they play against will use this to beat them in games.

There is an art to bluffing but no fast and hard rules. It is best to bluff only occasionally. Your opponents should have no idea whether or not you are bluffing because you don’t bluff all of the time and because you do bluff occasionally. It is also very important that players are very cognizant of their bodies so that they don’t develop any tells that will give away their bluff.

Many people attempt to bluff with their face only. However, the rest of your body can give you away. Make sure that you aren’t tapping your fingers, touching your face, hair, drumming your fingers or tapping your feet when bluffing. You want all of your actions to be the same no matter what type of hand you have and whether or not you are being straight up or bluffing.

Knowing when to bluff is just as important as knowing how to. Knowing the right time comes with experience. Unfortunately, it’s something that in most cases is never mastered. Even very good players will find that they get themselves in trouble because of a failed bluff. A good general rule is that if your hand does not give you a real shot at winning, then it is best to fold. It’s never a good idea to continue to play when you have a terrible hand in hopes of bluffing your way through the game. While this may work occasionally, when you are playing against bad players, it won’t fly when competing against very good and/or experienced players. In these cases, it is simply best to fold and save your money.

Again, when bluffing, it is important to watch out for tells that may give away your bluff. Also, don’t bluff too frequently. However, you will need to bluff enough to keep your opponents off balance. This means that you will need to bluff occasionally.

Tags: bluff, bluffing, Poker, strategy

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.