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Poker Math That Matters

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20<br />

1. 400 * 30 = 12,000<br />

2. 12,000 / 100 = 120<br />

3. $0.10 * 7 = $0.70<br />

4. 120 * $0.70 = $84<br />

As you can see, his expectation of $100 a week from NL10 is a<br />

bit ambitious. Not only that, he's averaging $2.80 an hour. He<br />

may be much better off flipping burgers in terms of dollars per<br />

hour.<br />

Eventually it’s good to think in terms of an hourly earn. If the<br />

previous equation we had gives you $10 an hour, then this is<br />

how you should think about an hour spent at the table. A good<br />

example of how this helps is playing micro-stakes. As I said<br />

before, most beginning players want to play a lot. However,<br />

they may be spending all that time with an expectation of $1 an<br />

hour. Is that how you really want to spend your time? So, for<br />

those coming to this game for money, which is probably most<br />

people reading this book, you need to view the micro-stakes<br />

game as a stepping-stone. Micro-stakes should be used as a way<br />

for you to learn the game. Focus on learning the game there and<br />

not playing 15 tables for 10 hours a day. Another important<br />

reason to think about the game in terms of an hourly earn is<br />

when you’re down a lot in a session. Let’s say you’ve just<br />

started playing, and you’re down five buy-ins in one hour. Many<br />

times a player will say “I’m going to keep playing for another<br />

hour to try to get my money back.” This is bad thinking. If you<br />

decided to play for another hour, you should value that next hour<br />

in terms of your hourly earn. However, it will probably be worse<br />

than that because we just tend to play worse when things aren’t<br />

going well. So, my biggest recommendation is simply not to<br />

worry about the money when you get started. Focus on learning<br />

the game and properly applying the concepts you learn. It’s<br />

really best just to concede that you’re probably going to lose

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