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Bluffing is a form of deception tactics used by many poker players to their advantage. When a player is either betting or raising even with a weak hand, this form of trick play convinces the opponents that the player actually has a strong hand, thereby inducing them to make mistakes or even fold their hands allowing the bluff player to win the pot without even a showdown. Interestingly, the term bluffing which has its origin in a game of poker, has nowadays found regular use in the vocabulary where anyone pretending to have some knowledge or making empty threats is said to be bluffing.

Bluffing in a game of poker may be either a pure bluff or a semi-bluff. When someone gambles on his weak hand which he has no chance to improve in later stages of play, and yet makes a bluffing bet or raise, is said to be employing a pure bluff. Winning on pure bluff is only possible when the opponents fold or have an even weaker hand than the player who has bluffed. This kind of strategy has pot odds that is calculated as the ratio of the bluff size to the pot size.

A majority of the variants of poker games are played with multiple betting rounds with all the cards not being dealt in the beginning and are only given to the players as betting round progresses. In this case, a player may initially have an inferior hand and yet end up having a decent hand with improved winning chances. When he uses bluffing play, it is called semi-bluff. Winning by semi-bluff can happen in either of two manners – if a player’s semi-bluff persuades his opponents to immediately withdraw and fold or when receiving a good card improves his hand from the stage he had made the bluff.