Bluffing?

I pretty much only bluff when I'm in late position and everyone else checks and my cards can represent a good hand, for example if the turn gives a card I could use in say a straight or flush. This doesn't happen often, but the times I've done it, it has gone well. Is this something it's smart to do? I usually raise with the pot or more doing this, depending on the table.

Something else that I've lost a lot of money on however, is when I believe someone else is bluffing and call their raise. Almost all the time they are not, is bluffing very rare? Should I just focus on odds and outs and just assume that pretty much everyone who makes a big raise has very good cards? How does experienced players handle this, cause people do bluff now and then, just not the times I think they are it seems:)

I'm not that experienced, but this is what I do.

1) I only bluff when the board indicates I could have hit something, and I am in the pot with only 1 or 2 people. I never bluff with 3 people or more in the pot no matter how tempting, chances are somebody has hit _something_ that they think is good enough to win.

2) I also try to take in to account their previous table record (are they tight/loose/passive/aggressive) and of course their chip count. My raise of 200 chips might seem a lot to me, but it could be peanuts to them and they'll just throw in a call to see what I had. On the flip side, if I'm willing to bet so many chips when I have so little - perhaps they think to themselves "he must have something to bet so much of his little stack". Or, they might think "he's hardly got any chips left, he's just trying to steal this". If you have many more chips than them, they might perceive you are a bully and decide to stand up to you. Etc etc. This is why I don't like to bluff very often...!

3) If I think the other person is bluffing, I don't call their raise. I re-raise. If they are bluffing, they will usually fold at this point. If they call or re-raise again, they have either spotted your double bluff or they really do have a good hand. Either way, it's time to get out. This is one I use when I think people are trying to steal the blinds - say the blinds are 100 and 200. You are the BB. Everybody folds, last person to act raises to 400. If I think they have a habit of bluffing, I will re-raise to 800. They fold more often than they call, if I've read their play right, especially as I'm a tight player so they (hopefully) think I'm re-raising with a good hand.

4) If I bluff and lose, I will usually not try it again on that table because everyone will remember. However this works in your favour too - wait for a good hand and hope people assume you are bluffing, resulting in more callers and a bigger pot for you to take.

I expect somebody more experienced will come along and correct/add to this, but that's how I play at the moment.

From my experience it is very hard to set rules to 'when to bluff', it is a skill that is highly situational.
A lot of it depends on the table fabric, there are tables you just cant bluff on, and there are when you can bluff often enough.
A good rule of thumb is not to bluff vs more then 2 players.
Bluffing from late position makes sense, but it is often expected and you will get called or reraised.
Another rule from bluff is to make the bluff in an amount that will actually scare people off, if you minbet vs the chip leader you will probably get called with any 2 cards.
A bluff when you can logically represent something (TP, flush,str8) is a good bluff.
A bluff has to be consistent throughout the hand, otherwise it is usually two obvious. For example if you raised heavy preflop do not try to represnet a 8,9 that completes a str8

Bluffing is situation dependant, remember that. If you raised before the flop, people will usually respect your bets on the flop if an ace or king comes. When the third of one suit hits the turn or river, sometimes you can represent the flush (unless they were on a flush draw all along). If you bet and keep getting called, examine the board. Is he chasing a flush or straight draw? If the turn and river seem like cards that missed a drawing hand, it's usually correct to make a bet on the river. If they missed their draw, they will fold and you will pick up a nice pot.

In order to be a consistently good player, bluffing has to be a big part in your arsenal. How else can you take down a pot with 250? Bluffing. Remember that your bluffing needs to tell a story, if they believe you have it, then it doesn't matter if you actually do.

in NL cash games at low limits you're going to be wrong about whether someone is bluffing the majority of the time, its not worth trying to make the miracle call. Once you get up to like 100-200NL you can worry more about that. In SNG's, people do bluff a good amount of the time. But, my overall advice for bluffing, is you yourself should never bluff in a cash game, only bluff near the end of sng's, and only call what you think is a bluff once in a blue moon: don't force it, wait until you are extra positive its a bluff, not one of those times where you think its possible.

Don't call someone's bluff without a reason to think they are bluffing, such as them raising A LOT, or having previously seen someone else call them and discovered they are bluffing. Even then, it's best if you can wait until you have a feel for how good the person is and what types of spots they bluff.

In low-limit cash games, I agree that bluffing is very limited. People don't worry enough about what could beat them for it to be profitable. There are times that it will work, but you must have reads on other players and know that they will lay down hands. Usually, I'd restrict it to late position plays and/or semi-bluffs.

Good to get some feedback on this, I suppose that's what many new players think, that poker players bluff more often than they actually do. The last few days I've focused on not doing this mistake, and hardly ever called/reraised unless I was very very certain someone was bluffing, and this strategy seems to go better. Being more carefull with bluffing and calling possible bluffs also seem to reduce variance, at least it has for me the last few days.

"you yourself should never bluff in a cash game"

"In low-limit cash games, I agree that bluffing is very limited "

I just don't agree. Pick your spots on a table where you feel comfortable with the way your opponents play, pay close attention to position, and go for it.

A fave of mine is bluffing in the cut-off: if you bet on the button, people often assume you're bluffing, but much less so if you're not in last position. This will usually force the button out, giving you both position AND giving more of an impression that you have a hand.

I spent a long time bluffing at low limits. As a long term tactic, it simply doesn't work. Too many people will call with anything either through lack of care for the small stake or through ignorance.

It is critical to bluff at late stages of SNG's - blind stealling. More generally speaking it works better in short-handed games. So far as Ring games are concerned bluffs are more effective through specific representation of community cards as far as I am aware.