- ISBN13: 9780974150222
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
- How often does each starting hand win against a specific hand or random hand? – What are the odds of your opponent holding a pocket pair when he raises? – What is the probability that an over-card will flop when you hold JJ? – How do you determine if drawing is profitable or not? Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities answers all of these questions and more. Every single decision you make at the poker table is in some way related to odds and probabilities. Whether you are deciding to bet, call, fold, raise, or even bluff, odds and probabilities are an integral part of the decision-making process. Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities covers all forms of the game, including limit, no-limit, and tournament situations. This book does more than just show you how to calculate the odds – more importantly, the focus is on how to apply odds to make better decisions. Hilger’s approach shows that you do not need to be a math wiz to be successful in poker. Simple concepts and strategies that anyone can learn will have you matching wits with the top players in no time. Some of the topics include: raising draws for value, backdoor draws, facing all-in decisions before the flop, protecting your hand, the impact of stack sizes, and much more. In addition, the most comprehensive collection of Texas Hold’em charts and statistics ever put in print is provided as reference. Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. Expert players understand the simple math behind every decision they make – now you can too. Matthew Hilger is also the author of the best-selling Internet poker book, Internet Texas Hold’em and is coauthor, with Ian Taylor, of The Poker Mindset.
Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities: Limit, No-Limit, and Tournament Strategies
Looks like a good book. I have not made it through the whole thing yet, but I can definitely recommend this vendor.
Rating: 4 / 5
While the book itself is a fine poker book, I’m leaving this negative review to highlight the fact that they digital edition for your Kindle and mine is far overpriced. At 19.95, you can get the paperback edition for about $3.50 less. It’s ridiculously overpriced compared to other Kindle books and compared to the expense or producing the digital edition. Shame on Dimat Ent.
Rating: 1 / 5
this review is for the 1st edition copyright 2006.
pros:
1. the various charts showing odds.
2. formula for how much to bet to protect ur hand ([pot+ur stack] / odds = x, bet more than x to protect ur hand and stack)pg129.
3. the basic formula for determining break-even odds (pot/[odds-1] = x, to not give opponent correct odds to call bet MORE than x)pg145.
cons:
1. need to check the math yourself: example pg129.
2. the book seems to be written to impress other mathematicians, rather than being written for average joes that just want to know the “411″ – the important PRACTICAL FUNCTIONAL info in EASY TO UNDERSTAND FORMULA. example: pot odds. pot odds are a fundamental practical concept in poker. a lot of books and charts will give u the ODDS in terms of a PERCENT. but THIS ISN’T THE POT ODDS: u can’t easily use this to determine whether or not to call. the explanation he gives on how to change a percentage into POT odds is way more complicated than it has to be. here is the SIMPLE way: first, take away the percent sign. if the percent is given as a decimal, move the decimal 2 places to the RIGHT. now: (100-percentage)/percentage to 1 = pot odds. for instance, if ur odds are given as 25% or 0.25: (100-25)/25 to 1 = (75)/25 to 1 = 3 to 1. read HIS explanation starting on the bottom third of pg20 and the formulas he gives in the top half of pg 21, and u’ll see that this way is MUCH easier than his way (using his example my way: 0.33 = [100-33]/33 to 1 = 67/33 to 1 = about 2 to 1; to make money, ur EFFECTIVE odds should be 2.5 to 1 or better). and u’ll also see why i say he wrote it to impress other mathematicians – not for us everyday peeps.
3. his CASH GAME examples are from LOW-LEVEL blind games – $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 games. now the players in these games are a lot looser and a lot less poker-savy than players in say the $100-$200 cash games – or even $20-$40 cash games. i assume, based on what i’ve read so far and the fact that i have never heard of him before, that he is strictly an internet/average tournament/low-level cash game player. NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. LOTTA GREAT PLAYERS ARE “NO NAMERS”. BUT TO ME, THE FACT THAT HIS MATH IS SO CUMBERSOME IS WHY I AIN’T HEARD OF HIM: IT AIN’T PRACTICAL. AT LEAST NOT FOR ME: CUZ I AIN’T NO MATH WHIZ THAT CAN CALCULATE THE DIVISION OF FRACTIONAL PERCENTAGES IN HIS HEAD.
against a TRUE MANIAC – i mean a guy who LITERALLY GOES ALL-IN EVERY HAND – sticking strictly to sklansky’s LIMIT EARLY POSITION STARTING HANDS given in his book “hold’em poker for advanced players” WILL MAKE MONEY. i know – i’ve done it MANY times. u need to be really really patient and strict about this. and u need to STOP when u’ve won – can’t push the fact that “the cards always break even” creating some real bs for fishes. but even when u’ve got almost the whole table calling cuz they all know that one guy’s a maniac, if u wait for aces or kings or ak suited and move all-in, sklansky’s “probability predictions” HOLD TRUE.
but against INTELLIGENT loose-aggressive players like gus hanson or doyle brunson (and just cuz u don’t know their names don’t mean that there aren’t players JUST AS GOOD AS THESE GUYS ARE out there – it’s just that i don’t think they waste their time at $0.50/$1 tables when they can make bigger money playing for bigger stakes) CORRECT PLAY dictates that u PLAY THE PLAYER and LOOSEN UP. all the KNOWN authors write this: sklansky and brunson come to mind first. sklansky in his excellent book (if u REALLY want to know the DEEP math check THIS book out) “no-limit hold-em” writes (and i am paraphrasing): “anytime a player plays less than optimally against a particular type of player or makes a mistake, he has lost money; and playing TOO TIGHT against a loose player is MAKING A MISTAKE and losing u money”. brunson put it even MORE SUCCINCTLY (paraphrasing again): he said “poker is a game of people” and “u must PLAY THE PLAYER – not JUST the cards”. doyle’s book “super systems” by the way, gives EXCELLENT STACK MANAGEMENT advice. real simple. u need to read a few footnotes to get them sometimes. but they basically deal with PERCENTAGES OF YOUR STACK. this is real PRACTICAL information for CASH games. now i’m a lot tighter than doyle – don’t have his money or his experience, but this is one way i use his info: flopping a set is about 8 to 1 against. if i have just sat down and don’t know any of these players or more importantly HOW THEY PLAY or WHAT THEY HAVE JUST GONE THRU AT THE TABLE RECENTLY, and a player in early position raises me 20% (1/5) of my stack and i have wired 4’s and everyone else folds to me, I’M FOLDING. i’m no psychic: but the fact that he raised early, and everyone else respected his raise seems to indicate he is either playing correctly or running lucky. and because i’m no psychic and money means something to me, i’m not risking 1/5 of my stack for a 1/9 draw. to put numbers to what i’m saying: if i’m playing a $10-$20 nlh cash game and have $2000 behind me, and this guy raises to $400, and i’m the only one that’s left to call, i fold. for all his purported “looseness” and “luck” (10-2 is nicknamed “the doyle brunson” and u won’t believe why if u don’t already know) – i dunno how “loose” or “lucky” he is cuz i never played with the man – i really find it hard to believe that if that was the ONLY way he played, or even the way he played MOST of the time, he would be as respected as he is among the top pros. while he keeps repeating the mantras (paraphrasing) “play the player” and “play position”, he also states that the strategy he gives is a BASIC strategy that has been successful in playing the TOP players in the world. and if u REALLY read it – i mean LITERALLY TAKE NOTES (unless u got a photographic memory) and try it out – u’ll see that it isn’t that “wild” “loose” or “crazy”. i mean i don’t have his money, his experience, or his karma: so there are some things i don’t do – cuz i tried it and they don’t work for me. but if u haven’t already, i really recommend reading “super systems” – db’s nlh chapter really gives a well-rounded pic of the game.
recommendations:
in the movie “up in the air” a character says “it isn’t a problem unless u got a solution”. so here are my “solutions”:
1. “Super Systems” by Doyle Brunson et al.
2. “Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players” by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth.
*note: this book is about LIMIT HOLD’EM but is an excellent read for nlh players as well.
3. “No Limit Hold’em Theory and Practice” by David Sklansky and Ed Miller.
4. “Harrington on Hold’em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments vol. 1″ by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie.
*note: i haven’t read vol’s. 2 or 3, but if vol. 1 is any indication, vol’s. 2 and 3 are worth looking into.
5. “Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold’em” by T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy.
the only thing i don’t have a specific “solution” for are the charts. i don’t know of any one book or chart system sold that will provide all the information in one setting. i basically use bits and pieces of the FUNCTIONAL math – math that i can apply EASILY and QUICKLY under the stress and fatigue of a long game – from the the list above, as well as other books i have bought (most of which i don’t recommend cuz the cons outway the pros in my opinion like this one). and while u need to check the math urself, this book does give u a LOT of charts – so i haven’t had to look elsewhere yet. as for the math, the 5 books i listed above give most of the good functional math facts u need. the rest of the formulas, i have figured out myself or “field stripped” myself from various sources.
so if u want to pay $16+ for charts (but check the math) then buy. if that’s too pricey – it wudda been for me had i known – then look elsewhere.
Rating: 2 / 5
If you had trouble with math in grade school, then this book may be just right for you. But I personally found it was too elementary. Come on–do you really need to explain how to add fractions and how to convert 1/3 to decimals? If you are THAT math-challenged, you probably can’t count outs either! By spending so much time on remedial arithmetic, he doesn’t cover a lot of ground.
If you’ve never heard of implied odds and don’t have a clue how to size your bets, then by all means buy this book. For anyone who has read one or two poker books, this stuff is too basic–and nothing is new.
Rating: 1 / 5
Having a background in applied statistics, I can say this book is very poorly written. Further, the online charts are not even close to being properly documented- making learning them an unhappy and error ridden chore.
The authors of the book and the website where the charts are accessed take every opportunity to sell the reader on more books and a poker website. Enough! Give me value for my investment on this book before asking me to spend more!
Better yet, I’ll just avoid these jokers in the future.
Rating: 1 / 5