Poker Mathematics - How To Use Poker Mathematics To Help You Win More In The Long Run

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Poker is not only just a game of skill and the ability to read situations and opponents, but it is also a game of mathematics. You should be able to work out the odds of either you or your opponent winning the hand in any situation. A common question many people ask is; is it possible to beat the game without using mathematics into plays that you make? It cannot be assumed that people that use poker mathematics will not be winning players, but having knowledge of poker odds and mathematics needed can only improve your game and give you an advantage over you opponents that do not use poker mathematics.

So where do poker mathematics come into play? Mathematics can be used in many different situations when in a hand; however, they commonly come into play when a player is on a draw such as a straight or flush draw. If you happen to be on a draw and your opponent makes a bet you are now faced with the decision to call to complete the draw or fold and let your opponent take the pot. In a situation like this a player with good knowledge of poker mathematics can always work out whether or not he has the right odds to call or not.

Players that are unfamiliar with poker odds will make a guess on whether or not they should call or not. If the bet is large, they may feel it’s too much to call to try and catch the right card, but if the bet is small they are more inclined to call as they have less to lose. On the other hand a player that uses poker mathematics correctly will be able to calculate the pot odds and act accordingly. The pot odds take into account the amount of the bet in accordance to the pot, and the likelihood of hitting the card/s you need and inform you to call or fold.

There are other situations that use mathematics a little more loosely, but still use them nonetheless. Let’s say for example your opponent bets $4 into a $10 pot on the river and your holding bottom pair. What should you do now? Well if you have no evidence that your opponent has a better hand then you by the way it played out you can use poker mathematics to see whether or not you should call or not.

First estimate the probability that your opponent is bluffing and holds a worse hand then you. For example lets say your opponent bluffs 1 time every 3 times he has the best hand on the river. This means there’s a 3 in 4 chance that you have the worse hand then your opponent and a 1 in 4 chance that you have the better hand, therefore for every 3 times you lose and 1 time you will win = 3 to 1. Therefore if we call and have the best hand we will win $14 once, but if we call and have the worst hand we will lose $4 3 times. As a result if we called every time, we would lose $12 (3 times $4) and win $14 after 4 hands. This means that we would be making a net profit of $2 if we called on the river every time, therefore we should make the call.

The above paragraph probably didn’t make much sense if it was the first time you read it, but trust it isn’t has hard as it looks. A better way of putting it is that you should have better odds of winning than the pot is giving you. In the above example we had to call $4 to win a $14 pot, which is $3.5-to-$1. Our odds of winning are 3-to-1, which means we have better odds of winning than the odds in the pot.

A key point to remember when using poker mathematics is that the decisions you make will not affect your winnings in the short term. Working out the correct odds in a particular hand doesn’t mean your going to actually win the hand. It also doesn’t mean you made the wrong decision if you lose the hand. If you keep making the right decisions using poker mathematics you will make more money in the long run, so don’t let short-term results have an effect on your correct decision making. Learning poker mathematics can be difficult to grasp at first, but I highly recommend you keep at it, as it will help you to become a long-term winning poker player. After a while things will “click” and you will start to understand pot odds and the expected value will become a lot easier.

James Irvin is a online poker professional who has developed a free Poker Report which details how you can cash-in and make a killing at Sit and Go poker tournaments.

To claim your FREE Poker Report please visit www.thegopropoker.com