Can The Rewards Justify the Risk In Poker?

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 very affluent man approach you and ask you to play a round of Russian roulette for him. He is offering you $1,000,000 just to play it.

In this situation you have 5 out 6 chances of defeating the game and winning the offered million. The catch would be there is 1 out of 6 chances that you are going to be dead. Good rewards but a great risk. I myself don’t want to end up dead just to get a million dollars.

Example 2 - You won the lottery and you took five million dollars. The same man propose that he’s going to give you $10,000,000, if its head in flip the coin game. If its tails then you’ll give him $5,000,000.

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.

The example above are not really the same in playing poker but there are sort of the same. Sometimes just ti make a good decision you’re going to give up a positive EV.

Check this out.

If you got a free roll in a world tournament and end up being short in chips and a person away from the bubble, then its time for you to make a decision that will be advantageous for you. You can make the money and get a considerable $50,000. You have been also informed that someone have beeb eliminated. And if you lose this certain hand, you’ll end up with no money because you have lesser chips than the other players.

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 situation here is that, even if you win and triple your winnings you are still down and there’s a little chance that you can gain a boost up to the money ladder of the tournament. This is enough to justify the risk you’re taking of losing $50,000.

There will be times like this wherein you’ll have to weigh the risk involve even if the rewards are super high. Check out the odds of you, winning and losing. Sometimes the rewards is not worth the risk involve. So always think twice before you make any move.

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.