Best online poker games on Launchpoker.com

  Somebody once said that that discretion is the better part of valor. To be completely honest, the type of person who actually believes that is also the type who would hand their wife the baseball bat, and count on her to fend off somebody breaking into the family home while they courageously hide under the bed, probably in the fetal position while sucking their thumb.



  While games like Texas Holdem, Omaha, and Stud probably do not require the sort of physical courage that one would have to master in order to repel a home invasion attempt, there is money involved, which means some intestinal fortitude will be needed to play the game.



  As the focus of the poker world has been on the Rio in Las Vegas, and the World Series of Poker, anybody paying close attention to what is going on will notice that nobody who has won a bracelet has played mechanically perfect poker. Occasionally the players do something that seems like the sort of boneheaded move that would prompt David Sklansky to beat them senseless with a copy of "The Theory of Poker".



  The truth is that what seems like a stupid move is actually a calculated risk.
Tournament poker and ring games are very different animals. A tight player can sit around, wait for premium cards, pick up the occasional pot, and make money playing that way. A tournament, with its fierce competition and escalating blinds, means that for a player to be successful, they need to take a few chances. Luck is more of a factor in winning something like a WSOP bracelet than it is making a couple hundred a night playing poker at your local casino.



  It is unavoidable, players who want to win big tournaments need to mentally get over the nuts and bolts of the game, and occasionally take the sort of risk that would be out of place in a less cutthroat setting. Good players read the competition, put their opponents on hands with some accuracy, and pick their spots to take really big risks based on what they are reading from the rest of the table.



  While most people would rather get a lap dance from a sea urchin than try a three-barrel bluff while holding an unsuited 7-2, that sort of thing occasionally makes the difference between finishing in the money, and winning the whole tourney. Of course it can also be a fast ticket to the rail, but what fun poker be if success was guaranteed?