I�ll give you some examples of this and then explain how to use these two concepts to guide your own play.

The game is limit holdem.  You hold Js Ts in late position.  Four people have called the $5 Big Blind in this $2/$5 blind game.  You are deciding whether to call, raise, or fold.

You�ve ruled out folding.  Js Ts is a strong hand in late position with many players calling.  But should

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If you raise, it will look as if you have a strong hand -- a big pair or AK most probably.  Deception, you know, is good.  And maybe you�ll get other players to fold, increasing the chances that you�ll win the pot.  So maybe you should raise.

But wait a second.  What will be likely to happen if you raise?  You are highly unlikely to get everyone to fold.  They have already called for the Big Blind. Some of the many players will surely conclude that since they are only calling a partial bet, that they might as well call your raise.  "In for a penny, in for a pound," they will think.

You will also be costing yourself a double bet instead of a single bet.  So you will need to win the hand much more frequently for the bet to make sense.  But with what is fundamentally a drawing hand, you generally don�t want to make it expensive for yourself to enter a pot.  You want to get in cheaply, draw cheaply, so the odds the pot is giving you are increased.

You must conclude that although you can misrepresent your hand and fool your opponent with a raise, you shouldn't.

Here�s another example, this one from stud.  You have (4s4d)As.  Four players have folded to you.  Two players and the bring-in remain.  How will it look if you raise?  How about if you call?  And then you must consider how it will be if you raise vs. how it will be if you call.  Do you want the product of whatever manipulation you can achieve?

If you raise it will appear that you have a pair of Aces. Others won�t be certain that you do, but they�ll have to be concerned that you might.  They may well fold to your

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In any case, it is in your interest to limit the field -- which your raise will do if it doesn�t win you the pot outright.  Fours with an Ace kicker plays well heads up.  If you catch a second pair you are likely to win the hand against one opponent.  On the other hand, just calling doesn�t really help you -- as you will be likely to be against a number of opponents � all of whom might well improve to a better hand on the next card. You�ll be unlikely to knock them all out of the hand without something legitimate on the next card.  So a scare card won�t help you-- since you�ll need to beat more than just one opponent.

At the lower limits it usually isn�t necessary to worry too much about how a move will look.  You are betting for value nearly all the time because you have no faith that your opponents are good enough, observant enough, or disciplined enough to respond to your move.  But as you play against better players you must take their reaction into consideration.  Unfortunately, many otherwise solid players become so enamored of their ability to mislead their opponents that they fall in love with a move -- even if it is unlikely to actually improve their chances of winning money.  They semi-bluff and slowplay because they can, without recognizing that they can fool their opponents into an action that doesn�t work to their advantage.