Is Bluffing Overrated or Underrated?

Some players bluff too much, others not enough.
Where do you think the balance really lies?
Is bluffing a key weapon or something players rely on too often?

Houbi37 said:

Some players bluff too much, others not enough.
Where do you think the balance really lies?
Is bluffing a key weapon or something players rely on too often?

Click to expand...

You can't win at poker long term without bluffing. So yes of course it os a key weapon!

Too much depends on the style of your opponents at the table, as well as your position, the size of your stack, and your rivals. Although, in reality, there are many more factors to consider. Therefore, bluffing is just a tool. It cannot be said that it is overrated or underrated.

I think that bluffing should not be overestimated, nor underestimated, but rather that we must know the attitude of the players, to decide on a bet.

I do not understand these bluff masters at online poker. You can not see player , just making big bets and thats all.

I almost never bluff. Because I am bad at it

Bluffing is good against players who know how to fold; against extremely calling station players, bluffing is bad because they don't know how to fold. That said, against this type of player, it's better to extract value from your strongest hands. Bluffing always has to make sense, because there's no point in bluffing in spots where it doesn't make sense to have value playing that way.

...bluffing is an art; it involves positioning, reading the opponent's playing style, and above all, having blocks in hand or attempting an advanced play called a float... without these things, the bluff has a high chance of failing...

I’d say bluffing is underrated by beginners and overrated by people who want to look fancy. New players often don’t bluff enough because they’re scared of getting called, while others bluff way too much without considering the situation. The truth is, bluffing works best when your story makes sense and you’ve built credibility with solid value bets. Random bluffs just burn chips, but well-timed ones can completely change the dynamic at the table

Houbi37 said:

Some players bluff too much, others not enough.
Where do you think the balance really lies?
Is bluffing a key weapon or something players rely on too often?

Click to expand...

Bluffing is part of the very nature of the poker game. If you never bluff, you'll never be profitable. And if you bluff too much, you won't be either. It depends on balance, but it's not as simple as it seems.
Before we bluff, we have to know ourselves. This is especially true if we're playing live. A poker player who bluffs at the table should practice at least a bit of acting: you have to know how to control your facial expression, maintain the same expression for hours if necessary, and understand how the muscles in your face react when you have Aces versus when you're making a light 4-bet pre-flop.
Online seems a lot easier because no one can see our face, right? Wrong. Online is much harder in a way, because while no one sees our face, we also can't see the faces of our opponents. So we have to bluff very carefully, and that requires knowing our online opponents' tendencies. How do you get that kind of information? Only with time. After playing thousands of hands, you'll have seen a certain number of showdowns and built up a collection of notes on your opponents. Based on that data, you'll know whether you can bluff or not.
Now, in a situation where you're up against an unknown player, you can bluff based on your equity (the potential your hand has to improve on the pre-flop, flop, and turn) and on the river in certain spots where your previous betting has represented that you've arrived at the river either with a monster hand or with absolute air.
It's key to know that at micro and mid stakes, players tend to pay you off to see your cards way more than they should. So, bluffing isn't inherently overrated or underrated; it depends on a ton of factors. Honestly, I believe a more precise answer would require some deep-dive research into bluffing tendencies across the different poker variants.

There is no answer to where the balance lies. Everey game is different - posision, style of playing of your opponents, stacks just to mention.