For many playing poker online is possibly the first time you have tried your hand at the sport. With the reach of the internet enabling more and more people to get involved in this great sport of skill, it opens the doors to a new breed of Poker Player - The Online Poker Player!

The ability to bluff in land based games of poker is integral to the skill of game and if you have a good knack at pulling it off, you can turn a bad hand into a winning hand. When a proper poker strategy is being played, bluffing is actually the one factor that turns poker into a true game of skill. It allows you to win hands even when you're not dealt a 'winning' hand. It allows you to win bigger pots when you are dealt a winning hand.

There can and are times when the players around the poker table don't have much of a hand either and would rather fold and cut their losses than go for the win. Of course, you don't have to have an awful hand to bluff - you're just assuming that you don't have the best hand at the table (if you think you have the best hand, you're not bluffing now are you? ).

You will find that you will need to bluff occasionally to get bigger pots out of the table. It's simple actually, if you only raise when you've got a good hand - it doesn't take long for other players to notice and act accordingly. Sure, your good hands will still win the pot, but if everyone folds on your first raise you won't be winning much - so players need to believe you're at least capable of bluffing. This is why you need to alter your play when playing poker online.

No single bluffing technique will work at any given time, it depends on who you're playing with and whether they've caught on! Try to mix up your strategy before people get wise to you. How do you bluff when your 'poker face' is digital?

There's no denying that there are more intricacies to bluffing when you're playing with people face to face, as your gestures, general demeanour and what you say can all play a part in your bluffing strategy (or determining other peoples bluffing habits). When playing online poker you don't get to 'see' people, so bluffing is reduced to your actions on bets and raises throughout multiple hands. Still - it plays an essential part of any poker game, so be sure to make it part of your game, online or off.

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