| There are three groups of serious
poker players. There’s the mathematical player who knows all the odds and has a
specific formula for every situation they find themselves in during a hand. The second
type is the experienced player that goes with their gut when they have to make a tough
decision. Both work hard on developing their skills, and often one type thinks the other
is inferior. The third type of player is both, and takes advantage of the edges both types
can provide. Mathematical players use odds to
determine if they’re in a favorable gambling position. They calculate the possible
outs they’ll need to beat what they think an opponent is holding. Depending on the
size of the bet, compared to the size of the pot, they decide if they should continue in
the hand. In tournament poker they compare the size of an all-in bet to the size of their
stack to determine if the price of calling a bet is favorable.
Playing proper mathematical poker should produce a profit
over time, and will help you maintain a bankroll that you can play on without going broke.
Mathematical players know that putting their money in the pot when they have favorable
odds is a profitable play. Poker math isn’t rocket science. It’s basically
converting ratios to percentages and comparing one sum to another to decide if you’re
in a favorable position. Any junior high school student can learn to do it. Mathematical
players can be robotic in their play, and often don’t hone their instinctive skills.
But for some reason a big percentage of players never learn
to calculate pot odds. Those types of players are the gut instinct type of player. These
players study their opponents and their betting patterns to determine if a player is
strong or weak. These players often play the player, not the cards. They watch and
remember how their opponents play certain hands, and then try to take advantage of an
opponent when they recognize a pattern of betting that divulges an opponent’s hand.
These players often feel that they don’t require math
to be a good player, and they never develop the mathematical skills that can come in handy
when there’s no other information to base a decision on. That’s why the third
type of player is the best type of player. They understand the advantage of mathematical
play and use it to make their decisions. But they can also use their gut when they think
they’ve picked up a read on an opponent, and decide to look someone up when things
look fishy.
So you can be the type of player you want to be. If you
think that poker is all about math you can grind out some profit; as long as your
opponents don’t recognize that’s all there is to your game. If you think that
you don’t need to learn how to calculate pot odds to be a good player, you can
concentrate on picking up tells on your opponents. But that won’t serve you very well
online where physical tells are virtually impossible to pick up. If you want to be an
elite player you’ll develop both skills, and you’ll change them up within your
game. |
