sklansky doing too many maths

I have read some sklansky's books.And I feel there were too many mathematical fomula.I often wonder,do playing poker is a maths work mainly?Still you had to bear in mind too many figure which calculated from those fomula,and you will think playing poker is a memorizing work.What do you think?

It is only a small part math. Learn starting hands, position, bankroll etc. and then it becomes about reading players, how the hand develops, and sometimes your starting hand. Learn pot odds too. And implied odds. Damn this game is hard!

Sklansky teaches much more than the math and all of the math he gives you is pretty simple stuff. Sklansky has largely made his living off gambling so I trust application of math to the game and once you start using it you realize how beneficial the system is.

One of the best moments of my poker growth was when I started calculating pot odds vs odds of making a hand. That alone has helped me play correctly much more often.

I never had any issues with it. My issues came after reading Let There Be Range. South and Nyugen use lots more math for their online playing concepts and without using poker software it's pretty tough to apply those things.

"...unless your Kenny tran and enjoy making sick calls" -cole south & Tri Nguyen .

I never enjoy that but if I catch a lagtard bluffing and make a hero call, it's the best.

my idea is poker is ultimately a maths game!
you only need to make accurate decisions based on cautious mathematical calculations!

to me, learning the math, pot odds ect..is totally irrelevant. i played in a casino tourney saturday, and flopped a full boat and slow played it like a pro. On the river, i finally put out a bet twice the pot. i folded out two people and the last guy started talking to himself..doing all the math and figure out whether it was worth calling and trying to figure out what i had. Since i only limped in on the button and not raised, he put me on a bluff and called. too bad for him i crippled his stack and he was out in two more hands.

studaddy420 said:

to me, learning the math, pot odds ect..is totally irrelevant. i played in a casino tourney saturday, and flopped a full boat and slow played it like a pro. On the river, i finally put out a bet twice the pot. i folded out two people and the last guy started talking to himself..doing all the math and figure out whether it was worth calling and trying to figure out what i had. Since i only limped in on the button and not raised, he put me on a bluff and called. too bad for him i crippled his stack and he was out in two more hands.

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That's really not a situation where math applies though because your holding the nuts after flop. Odds of that are 1/136 or .73%. You got lucky and played it right by sounds of it.

Learning the math is great for situations such as...

You have 55 on button in 1/2. UTG raises 7. Cutoff raises to 17. You call and UTG calls. Your odds of flopping a set are 7.5/1. Since your pot odds are only 3/1 and its likely UTG has a solid hand since he opened UTG to begin your call isn't a very profitable one since you will only hit set one in every 7.5 times and the times your hand doesn't improve you're likely to be beat.

It's applying pot odds vs odds of your hand and making decisions like that to continue to be profitable instead of calling huge bets when its not justified. Your example is an extreme one where the odds are so stacked in you're favor virtually nothin can help your opponent unless its the ability to see your cards and know you flopped the nuts.

The math is just used by players to always know when it's profitable or correct to make certain plays.

studaddy420 said:

to me, learning the math, pot odds ect..is totally irrelevant. i played in a casino tourney saturday, and flopped a full boat and slow played it like a pro. On the river, i finally put out a bet twice the pot. i folded out two people and the last guy started talking to himself..doing all the math and figure out whether it was worth calling and trying to figure out what i had. Since i only limped in on the button and not raised, he put me on a bluff and called. too bad for him i crippled his stack and he was out in two more hands.

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You can play bad and still win, this is why fish play poker.

So next time you flop a boat and check it down like a pro, he will prob check behind the river/ or fold, and you will be real smart then. Or you will bluff the next time, and he will still call, then he will start assigning a range to you, and own your soul, and bankroll.

Poker math is far from irrelevant. That doesn't mean that I am sitting there banging away on the calculator every time I play a hand. Like I say, I'm playng poker, not calculator hero. The thing is that over time you find that you're no longer doing the calculations. You can look at the board and see how many outs you have without adding them up on your fingers. You know the percentages without referring to your odds and outs chart and can figure the pot odds without even moving your lips. You find yourself using the math, without really having to do the math. It just takes time and is definitely worth knowing

IntenseHeat said:

Poker math is far from irrelevant. That doesn't mean that I am sitting there banging away on the calculator every time I play a hand. Like I say, I'm playng poker, not calculator hero. The thing is that over time you find that you're no longer doing the calculations. You can look at the board and see how many outs you have without adding them up on your fingers. You know the percentages without referring to your odds and outs chart and can figure the pot odds without even moving your lips. You find yourself using the math, without really having to do the math. It just takes time and is definitely worth knowing

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^^^^What he said!

Math is great, a read on your villian is better imho.

Flsnookman said:

Math is great, a read on your villian is better imho.

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Why does it have to be "which one is better" as opposed to "which one applies to this hand"?

IntenseHeat said:

Poker math is far from irrelevant. That doesn't mean that I am sitting there banging away on the calculator every time I play a hand. Like I say, I'm playng poker, not calculator hero. The thing is that over time you find that you're no longer doing the calculations. You can look at the board and see how many outs you have without adding them up on your fingers. You know the percentages without referring to your odds and outs chart and can figure the pot odds without even moving your lips. You find yourself using the math, without really having to do the math. It just takes time and is definitely worth knowing

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Great.Then people who want to be a good player,will spend most of his time learning maths of poker.Those time will not be wasted,we will get reward ond day.

i use the basic math formula. 4 x outs on flop, 2 x outs on turn. and that is "if" its a tough decision. thats how far i go when math is concerned.

vinylspiros said:

i use the basic math formula. 4 x outs on flop, 2 x outs on turn. and that is "if" its a tough decision. thats how far i go when math is concerned.

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Yes, there is concern on

if there are 18 outs on you!
4X18 is incorrect percentage



the right one on maths is that 18 outs to river, you have 62% chance to win, not 4X18=72%...

I refuse to reply because I calculate a 99.3% probability someone will react to my rant against the math bots.