One of the most useful advices for a rookie can be summed up in two short words: Bluff less. Yes, I know you love to bluff and I know that having grown up on Hollywood movies like most of us, you probably think that winning poker revolves around bluffing, but it isn’t so.

Good poker players (those who actually make money and not just brag about it in the chat section of your online poker room) do not abuse the bluff. You’d be surprised to learn how few and far between bluffs are in a good poker player’s arsenal. Not surprisingly, dark tunnel (blind) bluffs are not among the tools a good poker player will never resort to.

Another reason for the popularity of bluffs among poker rookies may be sought in televised tournaments. Because TV only usually shows the final tables of various events, where game degenerates into a crapshoot and where players are actually searching for coin-flips on which to shove all their money in, these shows promote a distorted image of what really happens at a poker table where world class professionals play.

Before you can even dream of pulling off a successful bluff, you need to learn how bluffs are supposed to work. Only then can you add them to your arsenal of moves. Until then, you’re better off not bluffing at all. Non-dark-tunnel bluffs come in several shapes and forms. The quick bluff is what you’ll see most often: everyone at the table folds around to the player on the button who fires out a bluff and steals the blinds.

The semi-bluff offers two possibilities for players to win the pot they’re after: by making everyone fold (and this is always the primary goal of a semi bluff) or by hitting the best hand on a later street and winning the pot fair and square at showdown.

Pure bluffs also come in a few distinct variants: the second bullet on a flop following a preflop show of strength (raise) is a classic example. Floating and the probe bet (which is the only type of bluff fired out from early position) are also pure bluffs. Unlike semi bluffs, pure bluffs offer only one way for the player to win the pot, and that is by making his/her opponents fold.

Whether you’re a rookie or an experienced player, you shouldn’t ever play without rakeback. Playing without rakeback is like bluffing the lights out: it’s counter-productive. Sign up for the Ultimate Bet rakeback or the Absolute poker rakeback and secure an edge that will take you one step closer to becoming a consistently winning player.