From Toby Bochan,
Your Guide to Poker.
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Bluffing is one of the key elements of poker and what makes it such a great game. If in every game of poker, every player knew every other players’ cards, the best hand would always win. What fun is that? But the fact that poker is a game of imperfect, incomplete information makes it possible to win just by representing that you have the best hand -- and getting the other players to believe you. That’s what it means to bluff.

In it’s simplest terms, to bluff means to bet or raise with an inferior or weak hand. Bluffing is an essential skill for a good poker player, and it’s important to understand how and when to bluff if you want to be a winning player.

It’s easy to win when you get dealt aces every hand, but the odds are against that. In order to be a profitable player, you’ll need to be able to win even with inferior cards.

On the other hand, if you bluff too much and in the wrong situations, you’ll also be a losing player, so balance is important.