Bluff A bluff was a deception tactic built on an empty boast . It was a common tactic in games like poker , but also had applications in real life . One such example of a bluff applied in real life was the Corbomite Maneuver . ( ) H - bomb s were built on 20th century Earth as a bluff , never intended to be really used . Upon encountering the Planet killer in 2267 , James T . Kirk theorized that it served a similar goal . Upon being accused of bluffing , Spock later claimed that Vulcan s never bluffed . ( ) In 2268 , while Kirk and a Klingon crew under the command of Kang were fighting under the influence of the Beta XII - A entity , Kirk threatened to kill Kang ' s wife . However , Kang called his bluff . ( In 2269 , while the and the were trapped in Elysia , the S - 2 graf unit of the " Klothos " suffered damage , but it ' s captain , Kor , tried to bluff Kirk by pretending they were doing fine . ( ) In 2270 , the computer of the fooled the Romulan s with a giant , prompting Leonard McCoy to remark that it was an effective bluff . ( ) During the V ' Ger crisis in the 2270s , Kirk tried to bluff the probe , but to no avail . ( ) When the was being held hostage by Nagilum in 2365 , Jean - Luc Picard responded by initiating the ship ' s auto - destruct . Nagilum ultimately responded by releasing the ship . ( ) The same year , Worf claimed that Klingon s never bluffed , but Geordi La Forge believed this to be a bluff itself . ( Data compared Picard ' s refusal to retreat , when faced with a Romulan warbird , to the tactic of bluffing in 2367 . ( ) In 2368 , the " Enterprise - D " encountered a Tamarian ship that behaved in a way they did not understand . One theory offered by William T . Riker was that they were bluffing . ( ) During a discussion about Romulan strategy between Mot and Jean - Luc Picard later that year , Mot opined that there ' s a time when you want to call a Romulan ' s bluff and there ' s a time when you don ' t . Picard countered that one did not always have the luxury . ( ) On their way to Cardassia IV in 2370 , Kira Nerys and Miles O ' Brien managed to bluff a Cardassian Navigational control post which had managed to detect them . ( ) Benjamin Sisko , according to Jadzia Dax that year , was a terrible bluffer , at least in poker . She claimed that she had spent two lifetimes trying to improve his bluffing , but to no avail . ( ) After traveling back in time to 1947 , Quark mentioned Root beer to General Rex Denning as an example of his knowledge of Human culture . This was a bluff to cover his " lack " of knowledge . ( ) In 2375 , during the Dominion War , a conflict emerged between Bajor and the Romulan Star Empire concerning the arming of a Romulan hospital on Derna . Colonel Kira attempted a daring bluff , taking a fleet of Bajoran impulse ship s to prevent an approaching group of warbirds from reaching the moon , even though they would not be a match for even one warbird . Kira hoped that the Romulans would not dare endanger their alliance with the Federation by firing on the ships . Ultimately it was not the Romulans , but Starfleet Admiral William Ross who blinked , with Ross threatening to remove the hospital using Federation forces . ( ) Kathryn Janeway was also an occasional bluffer . In 2375 , Janeway tried to bluff Y ' Sek , a bounty hunter , but he called her bluff . Confronted with an Class J nebula lifeform in 2376 , she successfully bluffed the creature by creating a situation where , if it did not cooperate , they both would die . ( ) In the " Enterprise " - D senior staff poker game . For years , the senior staff of the " Enterprise - D " held a weekly poker game every tuesday evening . As a result , the participants became very good in bluffing each other and calling each other ' s bluffs . During a 2367 game , William T . Riker remarked that Data was getting harder and harder to bluff . ( ) During a 2368 game , Riker and Beverly Crusher discussed bluffing as Crusher called Riker ' s bluff only for Riker to predict that Crusher was going to call his bluff again a little bit later , each basing their correct calling of the other one ' s bluff on " " just a feeling " " . Crusher joked that when Riker bluffed , he raised his left eyebrow in a particular way . ( ) According to Worf , Deanna Troi never bluffed during poker , but in 2370 she implied that she might just have hid her bluffs well . ( )