Bluffing can be compared to eating vegetables, even if somewhat unpleasant, it is good for you. Of all the poker betting actions, bluffing is probably the sexiest because it is exciting, daring and bold. But when bluffing is plainly stupid, that is already an exception. When it comes to folding, calling or betting the best hand, bluffing gets the juices flowing much more than other actions aside from the adrenaline rush of winning something. Most people love the feel of living on the edge. But then again, needless edge-play can take the edge off the edge and it can also be reckless.
Almost certainly, you don’t bluff enough if you don’t ever get caught bluffing. Perfection is impossible in the real world, so when you bluff only and always when you would get away from it is truly impossible. In terms of getting called when you do have the goods, getting called bluffing once in a while truly pays off.
Pointless bankroll swings are the outcome of too much bluffing. And sometimes, losing begetting losing becomes inevitable. When players are losing four or five bets, getting even becomes a common obsession. In order to get those five bets, players will tend to risk all their fortune. We have to face the fact that players will never find winning pleasant as losing is unpleasant. Basically, a player who loses $1000 in a day is always more disheartened than he is satisfied with winning the same amount in one day.
A player is risking loss every time he bluffs. And it is common knowledge that a lot of people don’t like being defeated. So when you decide whether to bluff or not, think of the psychological effects that bluffing would bring.
Avoid doing too much of a good thing
Certainly, bluffing is good. Through bluffs, players earn with personal courage some profitable value that the objective assets of their card would be unable to earn.
A common catch phrase of our times is revenue streams. It is a helpful thing to have incoming revenues by diversified means. Should one of your revenue streams get blocked whether temporarily or permanently, your problems can still be toned down. A few big revenue streams and a lot of small ones are required in winning poker. One of your diversified revenue streams is bluffing. Therefore, it is good to bluff. By bluffing and by people calling you because they think or hope pitifully that you are bluffing, you should be successful in making money.
For revenue streams, however, bluffing is just a vegetable. Cauliflower or spinach would do you better than eating candy bars. You can treat bluffing as something that must be done, not something that you particularly want to do or something that you enjoy doing. You would surely come out a healthier and happier poker player only if you go into your sessions and play with your fair share of ‘vegetables’ each time. But you have to bear this in mind always: foolish, reckless and unnecessary bluffing turns a good thing into something bad.