The all in bet has been a staple of big poker tournaments ever since the ESPN cameras became part of the sport's reality. There are a number of reasons for this that can be explained from a tactical point of view, but the reality is that the all in bet is exciting: it's the "Home Run" of the sport of poker, and makes for good viewing. Newer players have been watching this on television for years, and it has become an accepted part of the game. In older days these types of all or nothing gambits were less frequent.
The reason players avoided these type of gambles in the past was because they shifted the game from one of skill to hand where luck would be the final arbiter of how the hand ended up.
A good example of this was Max Greenwood at the final table of Event #44 of the 2008 WSOP. He had gone all in with a pair of fives against his opponent's A-J. While he started off in the lead, Greenwood went behind the eight bal when the flop gave his opponent another Ace. This made the call of Greenwood's all in bet look like a stroke of strategic genius. Of course nothing is over until the last card falls, and in the case of all in bet, folding is not an option, so when a five hit the board on the river, the pair of Aces got beat by an unlikely three of a kind.
It can be tempting to accept the invitation by an all in player to take all of their chips, but remember you are giving up a certain amount of control. This is a decision that should not be made lightly.
Good Luck!
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