Poker Room Radio

When it comes to playing poker, almost every move you make is a risk. The key to being successful is to ensure those risks are calculated, and that more dangerous risks are only taken when you are very short on options. My elimination from this weeks tournament got me thinking as to just how much of a risk I took in that final hand. I think different people can sometimes interpret their options in different ways though, as I know some players will happily allow themselves to be blinded down very low rather than take a big risk.

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Personally, I have a point in my chip stack relative to the blinds and remaining players where I will start making a few strong positional bets preflop to claw back some chips. My cards in these hands are not really important to me, because my only aim is to pick up enough chips so that a double through will put me in a strong position.

I feel that this is the best way to give yourself any chance to win if you are short on good cards for a while.
If someone in the blinds has a hand and calls, then so be it, you can still get a little bit lucky and double up. The key point for me is that I refuse to let myself get so low on chips that I need to double up two or three times to be back in contention.

The potential reward of taking a big preflop risk with a bet from the right position, is that you pick up a reasonable pot when the blinds are sizeable. As long as you are taking into consideration the type of players on your left and their chipstacks, you should be able to keep yourself afloat with well timed bluffs until some stronger cards arrive.

To me, these risks are essential to poker, because it is difficult to build a big enough stack to win if you are too fearful of being eliminated.

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