 right...
That's the beauty of bluffing. Especially when you're down to just a few players (either at the table or in the hand), bluffing is the great equalizer. It's almost as important to represent having certain cards as to have them. The key is how much to bluff, when to bluff, and how much to bet when bluffing.
I think more importantly, though, there can't really be any "rules" to bluffing. Bluffing requires making your opponent believe something that isn't true, and if there was an optimal bluff or a way of detecting them then no one would ever do it. Instead, it's dynamic, it's all about building a specific rapport with the other players and then double-crossing said rapport to your advantage (start tight but then steal blinds, play loose and get caught bluffing to get action when you get cards, etc).
Learning to detect when your opponent is bluffing might be one of the best and most difficult skills to learn in all of poker? You can do it either using tells or understanding the story of the hand, but still... tough going.  |