RISK VS.REWARD
Almost every decision you make in life involves some sort of trade-off between risk and reward.
Decisions in poker are no exception.
In poker the more money your opponents are putting in the pot, the larger your potential reward-but the risk is larger, too.
There are two ways your opponents can be putting a lot of money in the pot-by being loose or by being aggressive.
Either of these creates risk for you.
These two sources of risk affect the game in different ways.
Risk from Loose Players
Against many loose players,you might have five or six players calling every bet, giving you great odds.
Even if you start with the best hand, having five or six players drawing to beat you creates a large probability one of them will beat you.
Sometimes the chance of being beaten is enough to affect your decision by not playing a hand you might otherwise play.
We’ll discover some of these situations later in the book.
At a loose table, it’s not unusual for the best hand at the flop to end up second best by the time the hand is over.
In poker you’ll generally want to try to start out with the best poker hand.
however, the disappointment and frustration that result from an opponent’s long-shot draw can have a devastating effect on some players’ temperaments.
If you’re one of those players, you might want to avoid very loose games.
A better approach might be to learn some coping skills.
Risk from Aggressive players
Aggressive opponents are putting a lot of money in the pot by frequent raises and reraises-but that means you’ll also be putting in a lot.
The more money you have to put in the pot, the greater the risk.
With a lot of raises,you’ll be faced with frequent decisions, increasing the risk that you might make a mistake.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
The Dynamics of Game Conditions / Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
