One of the biggest cardinal sins of poker is to play scared. After all, when you play scared, you avoid making plays which could help you win a poker tournament, and you will also eventually be blinded out with this mentality too.
The most common scenario where we see people play scared is when they’re on the bubble of a poker tournament. And it’s understandable why people would play scared on the bubble of any tournament since it is when several players will wind up the biggest losers. Those who go out on the bubble will not only miss out on getting paid, but they’ll also have spent the most time in the tournament out of those who leave empty-handed.
Of course, this doesn’t give one an excuse to fold everything pre-flop in an attempt to back into the money. Anybody who plays just to cash every time is going to wind up a losing poker player in the long run since you’ve got to make some final tables once in a while to make up for all of the times you didn’t make the money.
With that being said, there are times when it’s alright to play scared – especially if the money you stand to make from simply cashing is a significant amount. For instance, if you normally play in $10 and $20 buy-in tourneys online, yet find yourself on the WSOP Main Event bubble where players make over $20,000 just for cashing, it could be acceptable to fold anything.
Another instance where playing “scared” would be okay is when you’re on a satellite tournament bubble. In satellites, a set number of players will get the same prize so being extremely risky holds no advantage here since it’s not like first place will get anything better than second place. So there is no point in going all-in unless first place is the only person who gets anything.
I must be playing scared much too often, because I haven’t cashed in quite awhile. I must loosen up. Thanks for the info.-acesupfull13