Another tip is not to take points that you do not need.
Here is a classic example of a game that I ended up losing because of an early mistake. I was comfortably leading 36 to 19 with a 10 point hand as pone. According to the Theory of 26 by DeLynn Colvert, I do not need to take a single point from play to maintain my advantage. In other words, I should play conservatively. Yet, in the game, he paired my lead and I scored pairs royal off him, only to have him come back with a double pairs royal. He had a terrific hand with a subsequent equally terrific hand and all of a sudden, my lead disappeared and he was in the driver seat leading 68 to 60 and dealing the next hand.
Even though the chance of a double pairs royal is small mathematically, it can still happen. While mathematical expectation theory dictates that you gain on average, there is no need to gain that average in this particular circumstance. If the opponent actually scores 12, there is now a higher chance that you will actually lose the game (as was the case here).
The moral of this article is that you should not play solely based on expectation theory. More importantly, you need to look at whether you really need those points or can afford to lose those points to your opponent.
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