Poker Mathematics - Practising Poker Math

Right now we're getting into poker's fundamentals, basics of basics... math. If you aspire to be a professional poker player, or a winning poker player one day, you'll have to know poker mathematics. But unlike some seem to think, you don't have to be a mathematical genius in order to win at poker games. You just have to beat people at people's game, and right mathematics will make your job easier.

It's wrong to give "mathematical geniuses" a huge edge over their opponents in poker. Even though this is a game of odds, probabilities and fighting for value, there's a huge psychological factor. Even more famous book authors, like David Sklansky (The Theory of Poker), has claimed players who get better grades in math will perform better at poker. That's crazy talk, to say the least. Some do, some don't.

Yes, poker is about making profitable plays, and by learning poker mathematics is how you can actually find out if you made profitable plays or not. You can even put your thoughts on a paper, but there isn't any kind of a "winning poker calculation". We all have our own kind of understanding of situations (if you say a player will fold to your bet 50% of the time, and someone else says he's folding 25%, these are not necessarily based on pure mathematics, but rather your estimations. This comes from understanding your opponent psychologically.

Don't get me wrong though - I think it all comes down to math. If you can figure out what kind of stuff to consider, and you consider that stuff correctly, there's a great chance you'll be able to mathematically work-out the best possible game plan. I've written articles on the most important subjects about poker mathermatics:

Poker Probability
Pot Odds
Implied Pot Odds
Expected Value
Winning in the Long Run