Running it multiple times strategy

[hackmeplz]

I'll only run it twice when shot-taking. My logic for not running it twice at my normal stakes is I think I can handle the variance far better than my opponents and I actually am rolled for the games I'm playing normally. If I lose a flip I can just sigh and reload knowing I'll continue to play my game. But maybe someone else who loses a flip to me will tilt and spew off several more buy-ins whereas if he had chopped he wouldn't.

That said, I think running it twice is bad for the game in general. The variance is already not all that high for a gambling game if edges are large. It is very hard for a massive fish to finish the night in the +. Running it twice simply makes it even harder for them to do that and this could cause him to not lose as much money in the long run because he doesn't ever have that one super + day that convinces him he's a winning player or that he hasn't lost as much as he has.

For people who play golf think of that, when you decide to play golf you remember the one good shot you had the last time you played and how good it felt then you hit the course and remember that the other 95% of your shots are awful and you're a pretty terrible golf player. But then after the round you still remember that one birdie you got on the par 5 where every shot just seemed to be perfect. We want the fish to remember the big pots he won, and odds are he'll reconstruct what happened in his head differently anyway, so the beauty is it doesn't even matter if he sucks out or not as long as he wins. So yeah in general I'm against running it twice even being allowed but obviously if I'm shot-taking and someone else will do business I definitely will as well.

 

[baudib1]

You're overthinking it. It doesn't matter that much one way or another.

1. If you're an underdog in the game, your best bet is to run it once and hope to get lucky.
2. If you have an edge in a deepstacked game, you should tend to run it more than once to lessen your variance and remain deepstacked.
3. Keep the fish happy.

 

[Navonod]

No you cannot insist on running it more than once
Running it twice or three times or whatever will reduce your variance at the cost of extra rake. I LOVE running twice when I'm ahead or behind but that's because I don't like to gamble. I DO play poker because I win monies and its easy monies and i enjoy the competition, and strategy. I HATE being all-in having to fade outs w/ my flopped nut strt against a donkey's naked flush draw on the flop. In overall EV you should not run it twice because you lose extra rake but it reduces variance which is never a bad thing for a player with a significant edge in the game. If you are bankrolled properly it really doesn't matter much but I think most good players still really do like to reduce variance. I mean, if your whole stack is at risk losing it can set you back hours you know? Plus, if you are even close to ill bankrolled, failing to run it twice when you have a chance just a few times could put you out of action for a while, how much does that cost??
Honestly I would totally LOVE it if they changed the rules to "any time all players contesting the pot are all-in, run poker stove to determine equity and divide the pot accordingly." Running it multiple times is about as close to that as you can get in real life. (but it costs rake)

 

[MAsSIV]

All of you are saying "running it once or more times doesn't change the outcome in the long run"
That isn't true - sometimes it changes outcome a lot. For example you hold AA v QQ flop all on T56r in and decide to run it more than once. That's very good for you, because with every run your opponent should have exactly two outs when running once. If you run multiple times and lets say opponent binks two queens in first run, he now is drawing dead for all of the next runs instead of having 2 outs.
So if you are the one with a made hand and your opponent drawing to X outs, you should run it as many times as possible, but if you are drawing, you should run it only once.
Every run has the possibility to decrease drawing player's chances.
(unless with every run you take all of those cards back in deck and reshuffle)

 

[Akorps]

I think the main idea is that it reduces the variance.

Here is what happened to Phil Hellmuth once when he tried it

http://youtu.be/Vb7wit4i2Lo

 

[hackmeplz]

All of you are saying "running it once or more times doesn't change the outcome in the long run"
That isn't true - sometimes it changes outcome a lot. For example you hold AA v QQ flop all on T56r in and decide to run it more than once. That's very good for you, because with every run your opponent should have exactly two outs when running once. If you run multiple times and lets say opponent binks two queens in first run, he now is drawing dead for all of the next runs instead of having 2 outs.
So if you are the one with a made hand and your opponent drawing to X outs, you should run it as many times as possible, but if you are drawing, you should run it only once.
Every run has the possibility to decrease drawing player's chances.
(unless with every run you take all of those cards back in deck and reshuffle)

This is false. The equity will be exactly the same over the long run. Obviously at various points throughout the hand your equity will change (over multiple boards just as over the one board) but it's about overall equity, which stays the same.