Bluffing -- One Opponent at a Time, Puhleeze!

The last sentence in my last post was "You need an opponent...." Notice, I didn't say "Opponents" You want to bluff? Stick to bluffing one person at a time. Your odds of bluffing the entire table are next to zero. Somebody either HAS the winning cards, or just wants to see what you have bad enough they'll call you. One opponent at a time is a lot easier. You need to have "put" your opponent on a particular hand, based on his or her betting, and have scare cards come up that will let you work the bluff magic. You simply can't do that for more than one opponent at a time -- most of the time. There isn't enough time in the game to deduce what cards every other player might have.

Guess what! A lot of the time you're going to LOSE when you bluff. Your opponent may actually HAVE the hand that completes the hand the "scare cards" offers! How will you know? They immediately re-raise you -- and you just lost! This is the time to concede defeat, EVEN if they arein turn just bluffing you! The key to bluffing is being non-emotional about it, and accepting both your wins and losses without going on tilt!