Fields of Study?

What weighted value should be given to the study of the various aspect of poker? Mathmatics, tells, psychology? And are there any other fields of study that might reap benifits?

I would say mathematics would be the biggest and best to study. Every hand involves math.

Tells and psychology are important too, but are pretty useless if you don't have the math down. And that's what I'm trying to do right now.

More math in limit games, but if you're gonna play NL holdem for example....studying people is more important. It's easier to play versus someone you can mind read sort of speak.

As far as formal training goes, I would weigh in strongly on the side of the mathematics. If you read the bios of the pros, it's really amazing how many of them came from an engineering, accounting or computer science background.

As to the psychology part, I am not convinced that it would make that much difference. One of my undergraduate degrees is in psychology and I spent over 10 years as a substance abuse counselor. I can honestly say that very little of my formal training, other than some of the body language stuff, made me any better at reading people than I was before receiving all that education. In fact, much of it has exactly the opposite effect because it deals far too much with whatever theory of human behavior is currently in vogue and far too little with practical applications. I would note that there are also a lot of pros who started as dealers, which I would think would be the ultimate school of "reading" card players.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

sales...the ability to read your opponent and create a false image of yourself. Then math.

Logic. Statistics. more than just "math".

As to the psychology part... I wonder if this is harder to quantify. It seems to me that a combination of natural talent and lots and lots of time is more beneficial on this side.

Maths is important as is hand reading, bankroll management, psychology.

Excellent point. Hadn't thought about it that way before. In fact, if I remember correctly, Doyle Brunson's "other" job, however brief, was as a salesman.

not more math, different math.

when people talk about math for poker, they tend to focus on probabilities, drawing odds vs. pot odds, but that's really just the basics.

The cool stuff you should study is game theory.

At which time, your brains will start leaking out of your ears and your head will implode.

Seriously, you are right, but unless you have a natural aptitude for math, you're going to have to take quite a few other math courses to prepare you to grasp the basics of this stuff. Almost as much fun as number theory.

I don't know if there is 'the best.' If you look at top players, you have pros like Daniel Negreanu who rely on hand reading. Guys like Chris Ferguson is extremely math oriented. Which one is best? Both have thier pros and cons.

My advice is to find an area you are comfortable with and get good at it. Really good at it. Make that your strength.

Good luck, Poker is a complicated game.

i feel that math is more important early on, learning all the odds, pot odds, implied odds, and etc even though it really is not really all that difficult in my opinion, but psychology or reading people becomes equally important as you play more and i feel its easier when you know the math. IMO making a read on what a player is trying to make you do is easier when you know the math. And reading players is also something you should just get better at as you more and more.

I say use everything you have math ,mind study whatever depends on where you are playing and with whom. Good luck at the tables. Tina

I think the love of the game is where it's at. Of course you have to learn and the more you play the more you learn about all the different aspects. Good luck at the tables.