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To Bluff, or Not to Bluff
Poker and Bluffing
Bluffing is very important, but often over-rated by weak players. A bluff is when you bet when you have a poor hand, bluffing will only work in some situations. Knowing when and when not to bluff separates good poker players and bad players. Bluffs should look natural, and your opponent should not be able to tell the difference between a "bluffed" raise and a bet when you have top pair.
It is best to bluff on the flop. On the flop there is large variety of hands you could hold, ranging from top pair top kicker to bottom pair. This gives you a greater chance to take the pot down. When you have a hand with huge potential, a straight flush draw for example, a bet could be put out as a semi-bluff, in this case you don't mind being called as you have so much opportunity to make a great hand.
Bad players tend to over-bluff, there are a number of way's they can do this, either by bluffing to regularly or by committing to many chips to a bluff. For example they hold Ace-King pre-flop and make a raise, you call. And as soon as the flop is shown they immediately move all-in. Another example of when not to bluff is when a player is already "pot-committed", as they are likely to call your bluff.
A good bluff would be raising pre flop with two high cards, Ace-Queen for example, an opponent calls. The flop comes down 2-6-10 (different suits) now would be perfect for a bluff. The call pre flop in most cases would indicate the player holds two high cards. Because you showed strength pre-flop, with the raise, it is likely the player will fold.
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