I bluff over 99% of the time I play poker. The first thing I need to say before I begin is that you cannot be a longterm, consistant winner at poker if you do not bluff.  You have to bluff to win.  If you can't handle bluffing, than be prepared to be a losing player.  I am 150% convinced that a player cannot be a consistant winner in poker by NOT bluffing.

I would say that a "bluff" is anytime you do not hold the current absolute nuts.  So, every preflop
bet is a "bluff" technically, unless you have AA.  AA is the nuts preflop.  If you hold KK, you most likely hold the nuts preflop, but it is technically NOT the nuts.  You COULD be beaten preflop, however unlikely.  Every hand is a "bluff" of sorts.  Unless you flop the nut straight, nut set, nut flush, nut boat, nut quads or nut straight flush.  You are "bluffing" at the pot.  A lot of times, with the information given to you - it is HIGHLY unlikely that you are beaten, but understand that you are still betting without the BEST hand possible.

I've read in a lot of places, that weak/tight players "won't bet unless they have the nuts".  If that were true, they wouldn't play a single hand except for AA.  And that is just not true.  Even the weakest/tightest players are willing to play KK, QQ and probably AK, JJ and TT.  And if they didn't flop top set with no flush, straight, quad possiblities... they would fold.  They'd have to have AA and flop an A without any of those things to "only bet with the nuts."  This just doesn't happen.  If it did, they would play less than 0.1% of hands or whatever it is.

Now, while that may sound weird to some of you, consider this - To be successful at No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, you must use the information given to you, combined with the information you are sending out to make the best poker decisions possible at all times.   If you can accept that you are "bluffing" over 99% of the time, you will be able to understand better which decision is the most correct.  If you are able to accept that your good hands will be beaten by worse hands, you will become more succesful.  If you are able to accept that you are "bluffing" nearly ALL the time, than you will see why you will almost always want you opponent to fold.  And to get your opponent to fold, you have to bet.

The only times I really don't want my opponent to fold, is when I flop the nuts, or when I flop a set.  Even than I don't NECESSARILY want action.  I am definetly not going to sit here and tell you that I don't get excited when I flop bottom set to an ace and a king board, because I do.  It's a very profitable siutation in poker.  So please don't think that I am scared to play in any pots beyond the flop - because I'm obviously not.  I am just saying that you are never truly sure if you hold the best hand, so it makes sense to bet to find out what kind of hand your opponent has.  And, if you do happen to flop huge - you are able to bet it because you have been betting all the time anyways, so it doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary.

If I flop a big draw, like KQd to a TdJd4s board - I don't really WANT action.  I don't MIND if I have action, but I'm more than happy to take the pot down on the flop.  I don't really care if I turn or river a royal, because poker hands are based on subjective strength.  If my opponent has 23o, I'm not going to get any action anyways (unless he bluffs), so what does it matter if I turn a Royal Flush or not?  Sure, its fun to see one - but it really doesn't matter.  I'm sure you seen
a tonne of big pots won with ace high, and a really small pot won with quads.  That's because poker is all about subjective hand strength.  Plus, on the KQd hand, I'm not guarenteed action on the hand.  I'd much rather just take down all the small  pots and have my opponents fold before the flop or on the flop every time.  It makes for a lot less thinking, and its an effective
way to build your stack without giving out very much information to your opponents about the cards you play.

Now, I don't want you to think that I can't handle when I am called, because that's just simply not true.  Being skilled n the post flop game is obviously very important - and I will be writing many articles about that.  But the fact of the matter is, is that you will not HAVE the absolute nuts hardly ever.  And even if you do happen to flop the nuts, it's usually never the nuts on the turn.  Example - You flop the nut flush with Ac6c.  Any board pair, and your hand isn't the nuts. 
In fact, the only time in Hold 'Em where you flop the nuts and will have the very best hand regardless of the next two cards, is if you flop a straight flush.  If you flop quads with say, JhJs.  The board comes Jd Jc 6d.  You CAN still lose to running straight flush cards.  Think about that. 

Now I'm not saying that you should be betting scared because you are afraid of every single possible thing that could beat you, or that could beat you on the next hand.  I'm not saying that at all.  What I am saying is that you must understand the importance of betting the flop consistantly, because there are so many benefits from it - and your hand IS vulnerable all of
the time.  So even if you flop huge, remember that you are "bluffing" at the pot because unless you flop the nuts, the turn can easily make your hand non-nutted.   This is why I say I "bluff" over 99% of the time.

Now with all that being said, let's go over types of bluffs there are in No Limit Hold 'Em.

The Nothing Bluff.

This is the most common type of bluff I use in all of poker.  It is very simply betting a player out of the pot when you don't hold a hand that almost always cannot handle a reraise.  An example of this would be...raising it late position with KQo and getting a caller in the big blind.  The flop comes A63, and you bet after it is checked to you.  You have nothing.  But obviously you are going to bluff at this hand because you were the preflop aggressor.  If you are called, you play the hand very slowly and will probably end up folding.  And if he reraised you, you'd pretty much HAVE to fold.  This is probably the most common example of The Nothing Bluff.  I use this all of the time, and it is very easy to do when you are the preflop aggressor, and preferably  when you have position.

The Quarter-Bluff

This is probably the second most common type of bluff.  This is when you catch a piece of the flop, but not enough to handle very much heat from a raise.  An example of this would be...raising in mid position with A5s, and the flop comes 5dQsKh.  Now, sticking with the plan of almost always continuation betting on the flop (because as we know, this is where most hands are won) we have flopped bottom pair with an over card and a backdoor flush draw.  Not a terrible hand, but especially with the Q and the K as scare cards, we are using The Quarter Bluff here.  We hit a piece of our hand and we're going to bet it, but if we are raised, we are going to have to proceed with caution, or just fold and assume our hand is beat.  This wasn't a Nothing Bluff, because here we actually did catch piece of the flop.  But it's still a type of bluff, because we know we could very well be behind to a lot of hands.

The Semi-Bluff

This is most likely the third most common type of bluff.  This is when you flop a draw, but are in position to bet, and usually call a raise with it.  An example would be...raising with AQc and the board coming  2c 5c Ts.  Now here we obviously have the nut flush draw, and maybe have two live over cards.  Now we could bet at this flop with confidence on the Semi Bluff - and still probably handle a reraise because we know the turn card is liable to help (or nut) our hand.  This is a prime example of The Semi Bluff.  Sometimes, however - you will have to release hands like this because your opponents may make it simply unjustified for you to play any further.  Semi Bluffs work the best when you are in position, and have the lead on the hand preflop (like almost all hands in Hold 'Em.)

The Advanced Bluff

This is a play I've talked about in previous articles such as the Squeeze Play, or the Stop N Go Play.  It mainly works 4 handed in a SNG, or late in an MTT.  Since, I'm not very sure how to relate this to any other aspects of poker, so I'll just remind you about people's timidness when it comes to "making the money."  The advanced bluff basically serves that you are so confident that your opponent will fold because he is more interested in making the money, rather than winning - that he will fold.  It takes a decent read on your player, and it doesn't necessarily work every time - but I feel that the positives from the Advanced Bluff outweigh the negatives. The extra chips you gain, combined with the image that you appear to be a "maniac", will help you pick up more chips on the next series of hands that will definitely help you finish first more often when used correctly.
 
The Nut Bluff

This is basically an overbet to make it look like you are beaten.  There are times when I have said "well if he did have the nut flush here, he wouldn't bet THAT much, he'd want me to call - so I call with top pair here.  And he shows me the nut flush.  What he did was is what I call The Nut Bluff.  It is a blatant overbet of the pot with the best hand because you want to use your opponent to  "outsmart" himself. 

A player once said to me when he was sweating me, "I didn't think you had 'em that time."  I replied "neither did he."  My bets looked so desperate and foolish that it really truly did look like I was bluffing, and I was aware that my bets would look like that.  It was  very deep into a heads up match, so we both had a pretty good read on each other.  He ended calling me with second pair, no kick to my over pair all the way down.  It's importantly to realize the opportunities when you are able to win a huge pot with the best hand, and try to sell that you are bluffing him.  It takes practice to recognize when you are able to do this, but it works  wonders to your stack when you can. 

Bluffing is an intergral part of poker.  You do it all the time.  Recognize that you are bluffing almost all of the time, so the next time you flop huge - you're not going to be mad when you don't get a caller - because you have been bluffing at all your pots up until that point anyways.  Just keep constantly betting the flops after you've raised preflop, and you will start to see how many chips you are going to win in uncontested pots.

-gidders