No sane person can say without the appearance of bluffing that these athletes are students.
His real aim is less plain: is he serious, bluffing or hoping to negotiate some kind of deal?
"This is like a game of poker now, " one government adviser said, "and I don't think Spain is bluffing".
Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness called on Mr Mandelson to "stop bluffing" and implement the Patten report in full.
Saturday nights were spent at home playing Chinese checkers, Monopoly, or a game called Hands Down (like spoons, with bluffing).
Syria has abruptly stopped bluffing, pulled a good part of its army out of Lebanon, and promised to remove the rest fast.
Stress signals (higher vocal tone, face-touching, tightly crossed ankles, etc.) most often accompany bluffing or discomfort with how the negotiation is proceeding.
Then again, who is bluffing whom, in a game with billion-dollar stakes?
As a body, it has never fully learnt the art of bluffing, threatening and cajoling others to get its way in the world.
Desperate to make a move and cursed most of the morning with lousy cards, I began bluffing heavily, and successfully, scratching back near even.
Assuming that Mr Uribe is not simply bluffing, and that his supporters in the Senate do not have second thoughts, would he really win?
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When I am bluffing, they sense it and take my chips.
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But some skeptics have suggested Perez Molina may be bluffing -- using the legalization debate to pressure U.S. officials into bringing back military aid to Guatemala.
The most charitable explanation of his actions is perhaps that he believes the US is bluffing or will have to bow to world opinion in the matter.
For instance, he was not bluffing when he said during his campaign that he would make reconstituting America's relations with the Islamic world one of his first priorities in office.
So if the world got it wrong, Saddam got it wronger: his bluffing over what have turned out to be nonexistent weapons has left him out of power and in jail.
Armey says he has in hand more than 100 committed votes of the 112 he needs to win re-election, but others say he is bluffing and really has closer to 65 firm votes.
Election Commission deputy chairman Ahmad Omar said the opposition leader was "bluffing" and "talking nonsense, " noting that counting had only begun in a fraction of the electoral contests at the time Mr. Anwar had issued his message.
And, yes, Israel could well be bluffing, waving its big stick in order to make the rewards the Europeans, Americans, Russians and Chinese are offering Iran in return for an end to uranium enrichment look more tempting.
They are just bluffing to win time.
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This leaves Mr Prodi with two choices: to assume that Mr Bertinotti is bluffing and can be won over with a few mostly symbolic concessions, or to resign, bringing either a quick election or the formation of a new government under someone else.
Although Mr Netanyahu is a more cautious character than some suppose, it would be a mistake to think he is bluffing when he says privately that on his watch Iran will not be allowed to take an irreversible step towards the possession of nuclear weapons.
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