Bluffing, I have never bluffed in poker, have been caught playing poker but I never bluff. You can convince yourself of anything when you are convinced a situation is not winnable or what you are reading prior to this situation is playing out just like you have envisioned this set up in the poker mind.
Psychology of these situations are important because of putting your game in situations to apply fear for the others to convince themselves the opposite is in fact happening. The crap about telling the story is ok in theory but to move past basic understanding, psychology is a better weapon; the story telling will take a back seat.
For example, if you are always looking to tell the right story it will work on people who are looking to read a story, but a person who is already read your story, that person knows the story you are telling and will be willing to tell a different story back at you. If you have not read his story or caught off guard because of thinking this story works other times; now does the story make sense and how could it if you have never heard his story before? What to do? Fold? Call? Raise?
From this action, I would range your thought process against other story tellers and make a proper decision either in the moment or for future use against a one story, story teller. I can go about four levels on a six max table but it is harder to keep the stories straight against eight opponents. Four levels of play, two basic levels, then add your own theories; for example my extra two levels are psychology, philosophy.
Find out who is a poker player and who the card players are as quick as possible when the bets are small. It takes time, training, making mistakes, putting your game in these situations to get comfortable in the moment amongst chaos. I work on a quiet mind in the moment from putting myself in these situations for the betterment of my game. The amount of times you have a hand or do not have a hand when playing volume of situations is the other complex part for the opponent(s) to have to deal with when under pressure.
The psychology of volume hands played, against how people think of players who play to many hands now will be tested in spots in their game when I catch them reacting in a basic way at the wrong time. Adding psychology into the mix allows for extra confidence in my game it is a part of me just like bluffing, telling a story or whatever crap that someone could label incorrectly is what I feed on mentally. Card players and poker players are two different people.
A poker player is what I aspire to become. I do not convince my opponent(s) of anything by telling a story, they convince themselves of what they are reading by reacting from what is presented in the moment; people that make this mistake have convinced themselves of something they can see at the table, in the moment, from understanding my game in the abstract, without enough, or the right concrete information to support their decisions because they believe I am that simple.
I prey on the ego in situations because people who believe they have my game figured out will always want to challenge my thought process. If they out play me, God bless their little hearts, I use the opportunity to learn because the stronger the player, the better poker player I can become in the long run.