Poker player or not, almost everybody is familiar with the term “bluffing”—and there’s a good reason for that. Bluffing is one of the key strategies for getting ahead in a game of poker. Remember: if you only played with your best hands and were honest all the time, you’d have no action when you play!
In order to benefit from bluffing in poker, you have to know when and when not to bluff, since bluffing is a double-edged sword that can sometimes harm your game.
In general, bluffing is a simple matter of mathematics coupled with an elementary understanding of how to read tells, or the hands your opponents have. Let’s say, for example, that there is a $50 pot and you bet $5, in an effort to steal the pot when you basically have no chance of winning. That would be a 10:1 payout on your money. As a result, you would need a 10:1 chance or better of winning the pot in this situation. And if you’re unsuccessful on your 10th crack, you’ll still need an 11th attempt to break even. But that’s really a worst-case scenario.
The main thing to remember is that your bluffs only need to be successful a small percentage of the time in order to show a profit. As a result, they are invaluable poker tool that you can’t afford to avoid.
Good luck and keep playing!