Risk and reward

Multi Table Tournaments / Marcus Bateman / 03 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

The most important two risk/reward areas in terms of avoiding mistakes are at the two extreme ends – taking large risks and taking small ones.

Poker - for the most part - is a game where you are constantly trying to weigh up risk reward scenarios and try and get on the right side of them. Just like an astute investor, good poker players are continually trying to find situations where the reward on offer outweighs the risk necessary to get it, and over the long run making these judgements correctly adds up to large profits.

The most important two risk/reward areas in terms of avoiding mistakes are at the two extreme ends - taking large risks and taking small ones.

You need a large reward on offer to justify taking a large risk in any scenario in life, and poker is no different; the classic 'squeeze' play in tournaments is a great example of a play that has a large risk (trying to push two or more people off of a hand with a big bet), but a large reward if pulled off (all the dead money already in the pot). However, you clearly have problems if you start shoving your whole stack in for just a few chips - obviously you will win a small pot most of the time but the times you do get called will be catastrophic. If you are taking large risks for small rewards you will go broke very quickly in poker.

The second area of risk reward is a more complex one. In poker situations frequently arise where you take a small risk, with the prospect of a very large reward. Entering a large multi table tournament, calling a small raise with pocket twos hoping to hit a set, or playing suited connectors in the hope of hitting a flush or straight, are all good examples of small risks that can carry huge rewards.

The problem with these bets is that most people go too far with them, and get involved with everyone they can. Many of these scenarios are awful bets if you look more closely at them (such as calling with a pocket pair against another short stack, where you cannot even win much when you hit, and you lose all the times you miss), and are no more profitable than buying lottery tickets in the long run.

Risk reward is an area that it is critical to gain a solid understanding of at the table. Making large mistakes at either extreme will send you broke in the end whatever you do, as you simply cannot fight against pot odds and player's likely holdings for very long, and making large mistakes in this area is something you simply cannot afford to do in the long run.

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