Sunday, June 14, 2009

Poker Mathematics

The very end objective of poker – that of wining the Pot , links Poker to mathematical probability and permutation combination rules. Betting and raising by players depend on their perception of the probability that his / her hand has a stronger ranking than that of the other players in the game as well as the various combinations possible with open cards on the table. The deck of 52 cards used in poker helps in restricting the number of permutation and combinations.

The poker variant being played also has a strong correlation with the mathematics of the game. For example in Texas Hold’em after the flop an individual player has 2 hole cards open along with the 3 community cards open on the desk .This means 5/7 or ~72% of the hand is defined in the first round itself .While in Omaha post the flop 7/9 or 78% of the players hand is defined .

But does this mean that every Poker player needs to be a mathematical nerd. I sincerely don’t think so. A bit of luck and common sense may well suffice.

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