The Bluff

Poker, unlike almost any other game, requires players to lie in order to play well. This ability to lie well, politely referred to in poker terms as bluffing, becomes even more important as a player moves up in levels.  The higher the level of play, whether in money games, internet games or tournaments, the more important the skill of bluffing becomes to a players success.

To realize just how important bluffing is to poker, imagine a pokergame where no player was allowed to bluff.  It would soon be realized that anyone who bet had precisely the value of hand represented by the amount of the bet. Naturally, any player who had a lesser hand would fold; whereas any player who had a better hand would be obligated to bet a higher amount, a raise, to properly represent that hand accurately. This would continue until the highest bet was reached at which point, all the other players would fold to the winning bet, which would be the highest bet.  It would, of course, be expected that the winning player show his or her hand, just to be certain they were not lying or bluffing.

As could be expected, the game of poker without bluffing, would not be very popular, as it would consist of dealing out hands just to see who would get the best hands. Even the act of betting would give little excitement as it would pose little risk to the bettor as each bet represented only the value of the hand held and pots would only be won by the best hand, as s players skill would be unimportant.

In summary, just the act of removing bluffing from the game would also leave all poker professionals without work as their skill could no longer be utilized against less proficient players.  All players would be equal and subject only to the cards dealt to them; which, in the long run would be even among all players.

Interesting to consider the importance of the bluff, something some of us use too seldom and the rest of us way too often and, we suspect, mostly at the wrong times.

Senior Poker Columnist
Janice Carroll
www.headsuppokerchampion.com

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