In playing poker you should always weigh the balance between risk and reward. Sometimes the rewards are so tempting but the means to get it are so risky. You need to balance it out. Check out some simple examples of this thought below:
Example 1 - A well-to-do man came over you and offer you $1,000,000 to play Russian roulette for him. He hands over a six chamber gun. Will you accept it?
One million is a very good reward in this game because you have 5 out of 6 chances that you’ll get it. But one million is not good enough if you end up dead. Even 1 out of 6 chances of taking a bullet in your head is big enough reason not to take the offer of the rich man.
Example 2 - Its your lucky day because you won $5,000,000 in the lottery draw. However, the same man approaches you and offer you $10,000,000 if you won in a flip the coin game. You get the reward if its head and you’ll pay him your lottery winning if its tail.
Ten million dollars is a big rewards but the risk that comes with it is so high. If the coin is flip and end up being tail then you lose the $5,000,000 that you should enjoy for the rest of your life. Think about it.
It has a very limited chance to you’ll encounter the same odds in poker as the two examples above but there will be a time that you will give up a positive expected value bet because of the risk involve.
Here’s one good example:
You’re in WSOP tournament because you one a free roll in a poker site. But in a particular moment you run out of chips and you’re only a player away from the bubble. If you make the money you’ll get a considerable $50,000. Someone told you that another player has been eliminated from the tourney. If you lose the hand, you’re going to run out of money because you are already short stacked.
At that time you have pocket Aces as your hole card. With this hand if you decide to fold you’ll get $50,000. But if you play and lose the hand you’ll get nothing. But if you play and win, you’re going to double or triple your chips.
The thing is that even if you play and win the hand, you still have a little chance to move up on the tournament ladder. And also if you try to play then you’ll also take the risk in losing $50,000.
You should always take the risk into consideration when you are playing poker. If the rewards are high but the risk of winning the reward carries a big risk then its better to fold your hand and not to take the risk at all.
Remember that in a tournament especially if you are deep stacked, there is always a better time to win a pot. So that’s where you have to place the money.
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