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Do I maximize my chances by bluffing as often as I should? Do I get bluffed out of too many pots when I still have the best hand? All players ask themselves questions in trying to analyze their games and find areas of improvement. Some realize that they need to recognize potential bluffing situations and take advantage of them. Without bluffing, a poker players game can never be complete. If you constantly are waiting for good cards, then you will find yourself waiting for a very long time. The longer you go by not betting, the harder it will be to get any action when you finally do get a good hand. This does not mean that you should bluff every other hand. Just to do it every once in a while, especially when it's a nice sized pot and there is no other way for you to win the hand.

Consider this example. You are playing as the dealer at a the local Texas Hold'em table, when you look at your hole cards and see J-Q of Spades, a nice close sequence. A person in the middle of the table raises to 12, and you call. There is 40 in the pot, and three players left before the flop. The flop comes, and it is 10s-3d-8h giving you a chance at a possible flush or straight draw. The middle guy raises 25, and the other player drops. You check, though. The turn card is a King of diamonds, and he checks, which you match. The last card is a 2 of diamonds, and you calmly push forward 75. The middle guy folds, and you walk off with the win.

However, what that play doesn't tell you is how the middle man came forward and chatted how he was very hot playing on online tables. It doesn't tell you how unhappy he looked at the river which broadcasted that he didn't have a good hand, and the look of surprise that happened when you called his bluff. Nor does it tell of the cold face you put on as you pushed 75 dollars on a hand of  nothing across the table from a man who might have been holding nothing but the ace in the hole which would have won the game.

If you hadn't had the ability and guts to bluff, you would have wasted all the money you had spent into the hand. By paying attention to how how your opponent reacted, you were able to tell when he didn't have anything, and won when if you were playing it close, you would have lot.

Bluffing is a skill that requires both observation, and a degree of control to shut down all the nervous habits that you have. However, when you master it, you will win pots that you never should have won, and that is a good feeling.