BLUFF

A bluff in a poker game is a bet or raise without holding the best hand but to convince your opponent(s) you have. It is a skill to bring the other players to fold their cards and to win the pot. 

I think, a bluff makes the difference between a lucky gambling game and a skill game. There are many ways to bluff at a poker table and the success of your bluff depends on your skills to know the people (psychology), the way they play (observation task), your chance to win (statistics), how to use the board for your advantage (persuasion) and when to bring your “poker face” into the game (self-discipline).

All these skills and the frequency of bluffing make the difference between a masterfull bluff and a gambling, donkey game.

There are two kinds of bluffs in a poker game*:

Pure bluff

A pure bluff, or stone-cold bluff, is a bet or raise with an inferior hand that has little or no chance of improving. A player making a pure bluff believes he can win the pot only if all opponents fold. The pot odds for a bluff are the ratio of the size of the bluff to the pot. A pure bluff has a positive expectation (will be profitable in the long run) when the probability of being called by an opponent is lower than the pot odds for the bluff.

Semi-bluff

In games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior or drawing hand that might improve in a later round is called a semi-bluff. A player making a semi-bluff can win the pot two different ways: by all opponents folding immediately or by catching a card to improve the player's hand. In some cases a player may be on a draw but with odds strong enough that he is favored to win the hand. In this case his bet is not classified as a semi-bluff even though his bet may force opponents to fold hands with better current strength.

* Source: Wikipedia

POKER BECAME INTERNATIONAL

In the last few years POKER became one of the famous and popular games not only live but also online. There are poker players all over the world. 

Every country is handling the poker gaming on its own. It is only a question of gambling rules. There are countries, where poker for money in public can be played only in casinos or special events, there are other countries, where you can play everywhere and last but not least, there are countries you can’t play any kind of poker game. 

It is still an open question, is poker a lucky gambling game or a skill game? Many of courts in different countries weren’t still able to solve this problem. 

I think, the poker game binds the world. If you look at the poker online community, there are players on the tables from each country all over the world. There, everyone is only a poker player, not black, white or yellow. 

In the famous poker tournament, WSOP, poker players come from every possible country too. Sometimes, if you watch the WSOP on TV, you see poker players from countries, you’ve never heard about.