Bluffing in Online Poker - A Guide to Successful Bluffing
Bluffing in online poker is good for you even
if it's somewhat unpleasant. Don't think of
bluffing in online poker as candy or something
fun, because too much fun will make you sick to
your bankroll/stomach when you end up losing all
of your money on one stupid rookie bluff!
Bluffing in online poker is the most dangerous
of the internet poker betting actions. Except
when it's plainly stupid, it is bold, daring and
exciting. Aside from the adrenaline rush of
winning something significant, bluffing gets the
juices flowing much more than other actions,
especially things like folding or calling or
betting the best hand. Bluffing feeds the same
human desires as riding a rollercoaster or
seeing a scary movie. People like semi-living on
the edge. Needless edge-play though not only
becomes foolhardy, it takes the edge off the
edge.
If you don't ever get caught bluffing in poker
you almost certainly don't bluff enough at the
poker tables. There is a theoretically ideal
point where you would bluff only and always when
you would get away from it, but that perfection
is not possible in the real world. Getting
caught bluffing once in awhile actually pays off
in terms of getting called when you do have the
goods.
But bluffing too often leads to pointless
bankroll swings, and leads to the psychological
inevitability of losing begetting losing. A
person who plays two hands and wins one and
loses the other will almost always be on a lower
psychological plane than a person who played
neither hand. Let's face it, to a human being,
winning X dollars is never as pleasant as losing
X dollars is unpleasant. A $20/40 player who
loses $1000 one day is basically always more
pissed off than he is pleased when he wins $1000
in a day. It's a common obsession among
players[spin] to "get even" when they are losing
four or five bets. Players might risk their
entire fortune to try and get those five bets.
In contrast, when a player is five bets winner,
winning another five bets has virtually zero
effect on anyone. It's spooky how humans can
look at two things of equal value in completely
different ways. You should always think twice
before bluffing.
Bluffing is risking loss, and people suck at
losing, so the psychological effects of
[spin]the act of bluffing is the vegetable of
revenue streams. The "bet the winning hand and
get called" stream is a lot less stressful, and
more successful financially. Bluffing
unnecessarily, or recklessly, or foolishly, is
turning a good thing into a bad one. Eating your
spinach or cauliflower is better for you than
having a candy bar. Look at the act of bluffing
as something you must do, not as something you
enjoy doing or particularly want to do. If each
time you play you go into your session thinking
"I got to eat my share of vegetables today", you
should come out a happier and healthier online
poker player.
