Arguing Against The Coinflip
Online poker forum junkies have changed the way that poker all over the world is being played. Instead of the process of trying to read opposition players or rely on tells to try and work out the strength of an opponent¡¯s hand, they now work heavily on expected value.
Expected value is the long run result of a particular decision in poker. Although the hand might result in a loss on one occasion, the long run expected value calculation for the particular decision might be a positive one so, the correct decision is to continually repeat that decision if the opportunity arises. This means that if you are holding a low pocket pair against another poker player¡¯s over cards, it is positive expected value to call an all in bet since you have an advantage of about 2-3% and over the long run you will be a winner.
The argument against constantly pursuing positive expected value positions is that a good poker player should actually have a much greater edge than just 2-3% over their opposition and do not have to rely on small margins to win hands and tournaments. There will be plenty of other situations that will allow for profitable play rather than searching for every smallest margin possible.
Avoiding coin flip situations allows you to play a lot more hands in small pots that allow you to slowly chip away at opponents rather than risk large proportions of chips or money on just one or two hands just because mathematics dictates that it will be a marginally profitable move.
Chipping away slowly and avoiding large confrontations is what deep stack poker is for so make sure that you keep this in mind next time you are at the poker table and contemplating your next decision.
