Many novice players either think that they’re not good enough to bluff yet, or they don’t know in which contexts they should go ahead and bluff and in which ones they should let well enough alone and go ahead and fold. The art of bluffing is one of the finer skills of the master poker player; the good news is that anyone can learn the art with a little patience and a little confidence. If you don’t have confidence in your bluffing, in your hand (even if there’s nothing in your hand) then nobody else will believe that you have anything. If you look at the hand you were dealt and see how dismal it is and automatically think– a great bluffing hand! Your happiness will shine through and nobody will know why it is that you seem so confident about this hand. It’s a conditioned response to look down at one’s hand and immediately react to what you see there. Now, of course, this is poker, so the last thing you want to do is to say anything or to have a full facial reaction. That doesn’t mean that small signals that you send out will not be picked up on by the other people at your table. Little things like the amount of time that you spend looking at your cards, the way you hold them, your body movements directly after looking at your cards, these can all be signs to other players about how good or how bad your hand really is.

It’s difficult to learn to send these signals as an overt learning process. If it done this way, the signals usually come across as fake and the other players at the table see that you are not sending natural signals. For that reason, a list of winning signals will not be put here—instead, the key is to condition your own response when you see your hand. How you can do this is by practicing at home, when you’re not playing poker. Simply sit by yourself and deal yourself two cards at a time. Don’t look at them as you’re dealing; simply place them on the table in front of you. There are two things that you should do: if you have an exceptionally good hand, you should feel great. If you have an exceptionally bad hand, you should also feel great. It’s not a question of feeling great with every hand; if you have this reaction to every hand than everyone will know that you have simply conditioned yourself to having good reactions to everything. That should not be the case. If you are dealt two poor cards and you feel a reaction that is close to disappointed, try it again until you feel that your reaction is positive. This is one of the best ways to condition your response.

Now all you have to do is place bets that have nothing to back them up. When you have a good hand, you can play it like you always do; however, if you have a bad hand, nobody will know it and you will be able to bluff your way through the game. Don’t be overzealous; be confident, but not in a transparent way. Your behavior has to exude confidence, but you yourself should not be claiming it. If you are overzealous, not only will everyone be able to see right through you, they will be downright annoyed by you and won’t want to let you into their games anymore. Finding the right balance is what it’s all about.