Poker Math That Matters

doesn’t happen to complete our ratio. The total chances are five,
and it does happen two. So, we subtract two from five, and we
get three. There are three times this doesn’t happen. So, the
ratio is 3:2. We could even add the percentage in here.
2 / 5 = 0.40 = 40%
2
5
= 3:2 = 0.4 = 40%
They all represent the same part of a whole.
In 1968, The Doors released an album called Waiting for the
Sun. On it, there was a song called “Five to One”. Here are a
couple lines from the song. “Five to one, baby, one in five. No
one here gets out alive”. Do you see the mistake in the lyrics?
5:1 is not the same as 1
. The ratio 5:1 is equal to one out of six.
5
But, this material is much more useful than correcting the lyrics
to classic rock tunes. This is the foundation to understanding
profitable gambling.
Quiz
(Answers on pg. 157)
1. Convert 1
to a ratio.
4
2. Convert 1
to a percentage.
8
3. Convert 5:1 to a fraction.
27