The general principle in poker is that the later you act the better it is. This makes sense as you can see what everyone else has done before you, before you act yourself. If your opponent bets and you are strong, you can raise. If you are weak, you can fold without losing any more chips.

Bluffing and position are very much related. A bluff is when you raise when you have a weak or no hand. If you act last when no one else has raised then you can sometimes steal the pot by just raising a little. You got to be careful of slow players and if your bluff is called, then be prepared to lay down your cards.

Another great bluffing position is first to act. More often than not, the flop will do neither player any good. If you are first to act then a small raise can get you the pot. The more players in the hand the less likely it is to succeed so only bluff in an early position against 1 or 2 players.

Knowing exactly when to bluff is difficult and there are few hard and fast rules. You should rarely bluff a loose player. Tight players are easiest to bluff but by definition they only play strong hands. No matter what position you are in, however much you raise, no one is going to fold the nuts .

Bluffing works best when you can represent a hand. Say if you raised with a pair of jacks and the flop came out A, 10, 5 off suit. A raise to make the other players think you had the ace could be profitable. This is better in a late position if no one else has raised.