Re: math book
Poker Math isn't hard. At all.
The three basic concepts are Drawing Odds, Pot Odds and Pot Equity.
Drawing odds are when you believe your hands needs to improve to win. For example, you have four cards to a flush and you need to hit that last flush card to make a winning hand. You calculate your drawing odds by counting (and discounting) your outs, subtracting your outs from the total number of cards left in the deck, then dividing the remainder by the number of outs.
Pot odds are useful when deciding if you should call a bet. You devide the amount of money currently in the pot by the amount of the bet you have to call. If the ratio is larger than your drawing odds, then you have an easy call.
Pot equity is the likelyhood that your hand will be best at showdown. You compare that likelyhood to the amount of money you have already contributed to the pot. If your likelyhood of wining the hand is greater than 50%, or if it is greater than the amount of money you have contributed to the pot compared to the rest of the pot, then you should raise even if you don't have pot odds to call.
All of these concepts are covered throughly in Theory of Poker, Small Stakes Hold'em and Weighing the Odds.
There is a fourth concept, Implied Odds. This is of most use in No Limit poker.
|