A key aspect of poker at PokerStars (that is remarkably under-credited) is changing up your game. You never bluff? Bullshit. If you’re serious: you both suck at poker and at reading other people at the poker table. Please refer to earlier articles on Muppet Poker!! It’s time to learn to bluff…
By now, you should be able to discern between whether or not your opponent has a strong hand, or a weak hand. You may not (yet) know how to use this to your advantage besides when not to call, but it’s time to learn about when to bet. A perfect metaphor for bluffing is as follows (I think it was Daniel Negreanu who said it):
Bluffing is like a story. You’re trying to convince the other player that you’ve got X,Y cards when you’ve really got A,B cards. You do this by betting – through a beginning, middle and an end.
Here’s what I call blatant stupidity:
You’re at www.PokerStars.de playing the board & the flop, turn and river have all come down – every round has been checked – and now the river is knocked onto you, sitting on the button. What do you do? Throw in a bet, about the pot-size, in the hopes of stealing the pot. Stupid. More than likely someone will call you on your bluff with a mediocre pair, or even ace high. You told an unconvincing story.
Here’s how to bluff properly in poker:
Ideally, you should start your bluff pre-flop. (Starting after the flop is fine too, if there are few players left in the pot already) Tell your story – you raise 3x the big blind, everyone folds with the exception of one other player.
It’s now heads up poker on Poker Stars.de; you’re holding 3,8o and your opponent is holding A10d. Flops falls Q, 10, 3. You caught a pair, but so did your opponent. You throw 5,500 into a pot that’s now 9,000. Your opponent calls. Turn: Q. Now, you can throw in another bet (remember, you can probably guess that your opponent doesn’t have top pair or better, otherwise he’d have re-raised with his nice kicker that he would *have* to be holding) or you can check and see what he does. Checking is the wrong move – you’ll show him weakness and he’ll probably bet to see where his two pair is at anyway (and then you’ll either have to fold or re-raise him to save/win your money) Throw out your bluff (which will always be the final bet in this situation), and you’ll chase your opponent out of the pot.
Yes, bluffing does require a lucky flop sometimes. But hey, you still had the worse hand and told your story to your opponent who now thinks he “read” you like a picture book. Don’t show your hand, you’ll only show that you’re being an ass 
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