What is better in poker: bluffing or playing only with good cards?

[crwth]

I know this thread is full of people who haven't played a single hand of poker just by reading all the replies...  C'mon guys...  It's obvious.

Anyway, poker is a game of adjustment and readjustment aka 'leveling'.  The more history you have with your opponent, the more you'd, more or less, know the adjustments to make.  And it gets quite complicated as you'll find out that the more you know, the more you don't know...

Probably some people just think they are already playing poker when they play it in a game app, but in reality, the pain of losing and the strategic thinking, on the spot games, the competitive games are different.

I know that you could improve your chances in beating your opponent just by watching them, on replays, or what I do is sometimes imitate the plays of pro players only by knowing what they would do in a specific scenario. It's not necessarily the same gameplay since it would be impossible, but the chances of having good plays would be higher.

[btcdevil]

Everything depends on where you are playing and how your opposite opponent is playing. In poker you can win by bluff but if the opposite players is most of time use to bet then i think it is not good to bluff. Even for bluffing you should have courage to lose if opposite player bet on your bluff. So everything depends on where you play.

I have played online player to player so many times and use to change strategy and in that some time i bluff and win. So anything can happen in poker, you just have to play smartly and some luck should also favor you.

[izanagi narukami]

That's why people can entitled a millionaire by bluffing on poker match.
Why ?
Eventhough if you have poor card, you can still win.

Let's see the real man, Dan Bilzerian that succesfully entitled a millionaire from Poker
And yes, it's become the advantage if you can do it both !

[Rembedful]

It is extremely situational, if it's online poker, play only with good cards works better most time since people won't be deceived easily by words alone. Otherwise, there are 3 conditions/things we could consider before choose bluff or play with good cards :
1. Is enemy easily bluffed?
2. Can you find out/guess whether enemy pretend to be bluffed?
3. Are you good at bluffing (choosing good words, maintain poker face and good body expression)?

If there are at least 2 condition meets, bluffing should works better. Otherwise just play with good cards and totally ignore all enemy bluff attempt.

Bluffing is necessary for winning the game. If you are not bluff master it will be difficult for you to win the game. Only good cards will not favor you in winning the game. You must be a bluff expert. If somebody thinks that it is not right to bluff in game, I want to ask them, is gambling well for your family and their future? A wrong thing should be full of bluffing.

[samuland5]

Well gambling legends are already able to estimate the frequency to which their hand is likely to be beaten, in the end, having the best cards enables you to win more frequently with a no bluff strategy, but you can definitely bluff your way to a win if you get a few favorable positions to do so.

Personally, I tend to play a mixture of both, bluff when I have a good opportunity into a set I know the opponent doesn't have.

For those that are interested, there are actually mathematically opportune moments to bluff if certain cards come down on the flop, turn and river, if you memorize the combinations and number of players at the table and compare it to the charts you'll be able to determine if you have an ample opportunity to bluff.

See this for more information - https://www.cardschat.com/bluffing.php

You will good cards with luck which will not favor you most of the times. Bluffing is the main factor in poker games. If you are an experienced bluffer you can win the game easily and win big money, but if you are not then you may lose your money because of a good bluffer opponent. In some gambling games only bluffing will help you and luck is not counted there.

[sunsilk]

That's why people can entitled a millionaire by bluffing on poker match.
Why ?
Eventhough if you have poor card, you can still win.

Only if you are very experienced and can manage the emotion while taking the bluff. Not all bluffs are so good though it can really make you a millionaire. There are bad story with bluffing but just to confuse the other hands, this is a very good strategy.

Let's see the real man, Dan Bilzerian that succesfully entitled a millionaire from Poker
And yes, it's become the advantage if you can do it both !

I watched one video with the young champion nearly a decade ago winning $8.5M.

Name's Peter Eastgate.

Many professional poker players became rich with it and they can do both, bluffing and playing with good cards. Through experience anyone can be a victim of bluffing.

[Supercrypt]

I've been watching some poker tournaments with Antonius, Negreanu and Cates lately. Most of the time the person with better combination actually wins, but there occur some great bluffs from time to time as well. Do you think it is better to fold if you don't have at least one high card in a pair or two cards of the same suit? Is it worth to try out overbetting tricks when you really have shitty cards? When I tried playing poker, overbetting usually made me fold, because it is a hard psychological attack for me and I am not the kind of a person that is willing to risk a lot. But I am bad at poker. What is your opinion on this matter?

It all depends on the level of the game you are playing as well. If you are playing against noobs and you level is much higher than their levels than bluffing at times could work out for you since you would probably win more times than they would and that would cause them to fold when you bluff with nothing in your hand.

Moreover, if you are playing on a table with much better players than you than I would suggest playing more conservatively, in the end the blinds will go up and if you do not ever go in the pot you will lose your money slowly by just blinds and whenever you get in they will know you have something in your hand (since you didn't get in without them) and they might just fold and eventually you will lose all your money without winning much.

So, all you have to do in that scenario is to make them think you are even worse than you are and get in on a bad hand thinking you have a shot at it, you will know you have no shot at it at all but they will think you have no idea what you are doing, bet on small pots and try to lose some knowing you will lose and make the pro players think you are losing quickly, and when you have a good hand you will get into it and they will have their hubris thinking they are so good and you are so bad and they will get in on it thinking once again you have a bad hand but you will beat them this time. That will put them off guard and you will have a shot at it.

[STT]

Big difference between playing vs house and actual players online and the nature of those players, timeframe and duration they have been at the table and all sorts of factors.   Big or longer term players will get to know each other and recognise each others plays.    I think bluffing is part of all human interactions personally, gambling can teach you alot about people :p

[ErmaburR]

I really like poker, bluffing to shake the opponent's mentality is the art of poker in my opinion . We can combine, sometimes we bully, sometimes we hold it, feeling we have to be good at playing poker, don't let the opponent read our tricks, but we must be able to read their tricks. Once again I really like poker.

Poker is a skill based game and it's tricky when we have to observe everyone on the table. Bluffing too often is not good player strategy. We have to know when to do it and we do it at the right time. For me, poker is not favourite game of mine.

Sometimes bluffing is also a good strategy for specific high risk moments when there are high stakes on the table or to provide more strong looks against oponents.

In my country most of the gamblers play poker game and they first master themselves in bluffing. Without bluffing you cannot win poker game. Good cards will not help you the most. When two gamblers set in front of each other both are well experienced and then the games turns into very interesting stage. Both try to defeat each other but the skills take the money.

[tokeweed]

I know this thread is full of people who haven't played a single hand of poker just by reading all the replies...  C'mon guys...  It's obvious.

Anyway, poker is a game of adjustment and readjustment aka 'leveling'.  The more history you have with your opponent, the more you'd, more or less, know the adjustments to make.  And it gets quite complicated as you'll find out that the more you know, the more you don't know...

Probably some people just think they are already playing poker when they play it in a game app, but in reality, the pain of losing and the strategic thinking, on the spot games, the competitive games are different.

I know that you could improve your chances in beating your opponent just by watching them, on replays, or what I do is sometimes imitate the plays of pro players only by knowing what they would do in a specific scenario. It's not necessarily the same gameplay since it would be impossible, but the chances of having good plays would be higher.

It's not as easy when there's real money on the line.  And I don't mean the micros - small stakes...  I mean the stakes where winning and losing the pot matters to you.  I used to play a lot online and stakes up to 200NL never bother me that much.  But starting at 400NL - 1000NL, whenever I'm allin (whether I have it or not), my hands start shaking...  And I'm rolled for those stakes.  Lmao.

I don't think I'll regularly ever play that high ever again.  The games today are much harder with all the GTO solvers and all the new poker software I haven't even heard of.  All we had before was PT/Holdem Manager and the hud.

Edit:  I tried building a bankroll again from scratch by starting again at the micros.  Even that is hard these days cos the tables are mostly full of multitabling nits.

[gabmen]

I really like poker, bluffing to shake the opponent's mentality is the art of poker in my opinion . We can combine, sometimes we bully, sometimes we hold it, feeling we have to be good at playing poker, don't let the opponent read our tricks, but we must be able to read their tricks. Once again I really like poker.

Poker is a skill based game and it's tricky when we have to observe everyone on the table. Bluffing too often is not good player strategy. We have to know when to do it and we do it at the right time. For me, poker is not favourite game of mine.

Sometimes bluffing is also a good strategy for specific high risk moments when there are high stakes on the table or to provide more strong looks against oponents.

In my country most of the gamblers play poker game and they first master themselves in bluffing. Without bluffing you cannot win poker game. Good cards will not help you the most. When two gamblers set in front of each other both are well experienced and then the games turns into very interesting stage. Both try to defeat each other but the skills take the money.

Another thing though, it's easier to bluff if you hold most of the chips in the table. Or if you have nothing to lose anymore lol. Sticking to either of these two would make you predictable and we all know that your goal has to as unprrdictable as possible.

[yoseph]

Most of the time the people who bluff and end up wining know exactly how to carry themselves, the game is about trying to deceive and confuse your opponents so that they may think wrongly about your motives.

[dmamigo]

Along with playing with normal cards, players have to bluff sometimes, and they must be good at it. This is because a player cannot get good hands every single time, or even sometimes it takes quite long to get a suitable hand. Gamblers have to bluff in the game of poker and rest is on his/her luck. Often I have seen real games where attitudes worked like a magic and the player bluffed like a king.

[BerneirBTC]

Bluffing with good cards  you can act like you are not sure in your cards and only reply on bets of other people who will raise the bet thinking that you are weak, but in the final you are going to have all.

Bluffing with good cards and luck will never lose you the game. People will call you the master of poker and nobody would be ready to gamble you because he would know that he would definitely lose the game. Everyone tries to win money in gambling but it is not possible because in two gamblers one will win and the other will lose and finally the winner is always casino.

[pixie85]

Big difference between playing vs house and actual players online and the nature of those players, timeframe and duration they have been at the table and all sorts of factors.   Big or longer term players will get to know each other and recognise each others plays.    I think bluffing is part of all human interactions personally, gambling can teach you alot about people :p

Playing against other players is the essence of poker. It's what makes the games much more than just putting your cards on the table. After a while you learn other people's moves, if they will bet with weaker cards or bluff, or if they're more cautious and calculating players. It's another side of the game unknown to those who play online against the house.

[Betwrong]

Bluffing with good cards   you can act like you are not sure in your cards and only reply on bets of other people who will raise the bet thinking that you are weak, but in the final you are going to have all.

Yeah, that would be our favorite kind of bluffing for sure. But on the other hand, who knows when do you have "good cards"? I mean you can be 100% sure about that, having a straight flush with the highest card being in your hand, but with lower hands it's complicated. You can be performing a reverse bluff, from your point of view, having  4-of-a-Kind Aces, like Motoyuki Mabuchi in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgOlflDqMD0

and then lose as he did. So, although poker is called a game of skill, whether you win or lose depends on chance more often than not. At least if I lose, I always think that's because I was unlucky.

[onrise]

Most of the time the people who bluff and end up wining know exactly how to carry themselves, the game is about trying to deceive and confuse your opponents so that they may think wrongly about your motives.

A very important move to bluff and that is why it is said that experience counts in poker. If you are beginner and bluffing you would be skeptical but experience people will never show or you cannot find out easily if they are bluffing or not. It is also a art which is developed over the time when you play it.

[PaulLines]

Most of the time the people who bluff and end up wining know exactly how to carry themselves, the game is about trying to deceive and confuse your opponents so that they may think wrongly about your motives.

Bluffing is the key of winning in poker games. If you are a good and experienced bluffer you will definitely win the game. Make sure that your opponent is not good bluffer than you, otherwise he can give you tough time in the game and my win all your money. Always play with less experienced bluffer in poker games, so that You will always be in profit.

[panjul07]

Most of the time the people who bluff and end up wining know exactly how to carry themselves, the game is about trying to deceive and confuse your opponents so that they may think wrongly about your motives.

Bluffing is the key of winning in poker games. If you are a good and experienced bluffer you will definitely win the game. Make sure that your opponent is not good bluffer than you, otherwise he can give you tough time in the game and my win all your money. Always play with less experienced bluffer in poker games, so that You will always be in profit.

Are you sure that bluffing is the only key of winning in poker games? Bluffing is just a strategy, there is no guarantee that you'll always win by bluffing. Even a poker pro player may still lose when he/she use bluff, or even a pro players getting bluffed by a beginner. So I have to disagree that bluff is the key of winning in poker games.

[sunsilk]

Most of the time the people who bluff and end up wining know exactly how to carry themselves, the game is about trying to deceive and confuse your opponents so that they may think wrongly about your motives.

They are the real experts and knows how to play poker seriously. I'm even afraid to sit infront of those professionals even with just a small money on my hand, they know how to bluff you and they know how to read your face reaction.

If your no good with that then expect that you'll keep on folding your cards and even with the mightiest card you've got, there still a chance that you'll get bluff when they keep on checking and raising. Its true that they are good in deceiving and playing with your emotion but that's a strategy.