re: #50 KGxvi

Here’s something I have been wanting to say about the whole bluffing thing. People really don’t understand the dynamics of what a bluff is in poker and that means the analogy falls apart in the real world.

So, here’s the thing about bluffing in poker: you do it to exert leverage when you think your opponent is weak. The idea is to win a hand by betting enough to convince your opponent that he doesn’t have adequate equity in the pot to win. But a bluff only works if your opponent has a weak hand. And it never works if you just randomly throw a bet out, to do it properly, you have to tell a story over the course of the hand - and really, over the course of several hands.

And 99% of the time, a bluff only works if the other person folds. But if you get called, you lose. And a smart poker player knows once they get caught bluffing, they have to rebuild their table image - otherwise you always get called and the only way to win is if you have the best hand.

Truth!

And now I want to go play some online texas hold’em.