Practical Poker Math

♦ knows more about his own strengths, weaknesses
and intentions than is known by his opponents;
♦ knows as much about his opponents’ strengths,
weaknesses and intentions as is known by his
opponents themselves; and
♦ has the Tao, in the case of poker — the
odds/expectation, on his side;
then, that player will triumph in battle after battle.
While a study of the Odds can do much to help you predict
the Cards to come, it is from a study of your Opponents that
you can surmise much about the Action to come.
All players get the same number of good hands. It is the rare
and, oftentimes, extremely successful player who can win
pots with very strong hands and very weak hands alike.
The most valuable ability in all of poker is the ability to
win without having the best hand.
This chapter is organized to present tables with odds for
each round of betting, and demonstrate below each table the
calculations of those odds.
Basic calculations will explain how often the player will see
certain starting hands, how often those starting hands will
complete into winning hands and whether certain hands are
worth drawing to from a money/expectation perspective.
Those same basic calculations speak volumes about the
likely strength of the opponents. When combined with the
knowledge of how a given opponent has behaved in the past,
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3. Odds in Texas Hold’em