onsdag 18 januari 2012

Basic Poker Mathematics - Beginner’s Guide to Poker Math

As a beginner player of poker you easily can get confused with all the equations and the firs basic poker mathematics that you have to deal with, but this beginner’s guide to poker math will help you to think strait. At the start it can be tempting only to focus on the cards in your hand, this will give you huge disadvantages against players who focus on all the factors at the poker table.

We will guide you through the use of mathematics in the game of No-limit Texas Hold’em.

Don’t focus too much on the pot size from the beginning, to take it one step at a time and advance in comfortable pace. You can calculate those pot odds, and convert those odds to a percentage, when you have figured out the basics. This will come easier to you when you have sorted out the first steps. Begin with estimating the size of the pots during every hand that you play. This count does not have to be précis, estimate the size and compare to the result. One way is to estimate how much that will be in the pot before the hand is even dealt.

Let’s say that the blinds are $100-$200 with a $25 ante at a nine-handed poker table, there is $525 in the pot before any other action. You only have to calculate this number one time. So if someone raises to $500 from there and another player follows, it’s pretty simple to know that there is $1,525 in the pot at that time. If that $25 on the end is going to complicate it for you, round it off and make it $1,500. You should do as much rounding off as you need to make the calculating easier, there is no use in keeping track of smaller insignificant numbers here. Keeping track of pot size will help you in your betting, why make big bets when there is a small sum to win.

New poker players often lose track of their stack size. The player will make that normal opening raise and will find themselves committed to the pot after another player follows. Before the hand starts you should have a clear picture of whether you have a stack that you can go all-in with or not. The same rule applies when someone raises before you. Don’t put yourself in a situation with no options; think at least one move ahead.

Keep your chips in stacked in a way so that they are easy for you to overview and count, you could keep stacks with 10 or 20 chips in each. Players with more experience can keep their chips in all kinds of unsymmetrical stacks, something that can confuse the opponent player’s calculations, but they always have an estimate of what they have on the table to bet with.

When you have figured out the poker basics of pot estimation and your know how to keep track of your stack size, the time has come to start calculating during the actual play of a hand. First of all you need to decide if you are going to enter the pot or not. Many new poker players looks past the size of the ante, this is an important first factor. There is an easy method to determine this factor, an ante’s relative importance. Look at the size of the ante compared to the small blind; this will give you a good view. Ante’s of 1/5 of the small blind is normal, 1/4 of the small blind is on the big side, and 1/3 of the small blind or bigger is huge. A $5 ante with blinds of $500-$1,000 is not so interesting. But the same ante with blinds of $300-$600 is very interesting to play.

Let’s say that you’ve have learned to keep track of the pot size at all times, there are some basic shortcuts that you can use to calculate your pot odds. Post-flop bets often fall into a relatively narrow range, which can be used to your advantage. If your opponent makes a pot-sized bet, you will be getting 2-1 on your bet. If another player makes a bet that equals to half of the pot size, you will be getting 3-1. Calculating the odds will guide you to the right bets to make.

When you are getting 2-1, 3-1, or 4-1 in pot odds, you need to have a 33 percent, 25 percent, or 20 percent in your favor of winning the hand if you want to see some nice profits. Remembering these numbers will help you to get a good idea of how the pot odds should affect your betting decisions at the poker table. If you always try to think with these numbers in mind it will come naturally to you son, you will learn to estimate the pot odds fast and make your bets with this factor in count. Poker skills are all about using all the factors at hand to make the right decisions, poker math is one of the skills that you need.

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