I know sklansky is the Shiite, But....

I hate math. I just got theory and practise and I'm trying to go through it, but the math ugh... i've only reached to pg.38.

from pg.36 -4.80 = (0.88)(-65)+(0.11)(520)+(0.01)(-480)

frm pg.65 $60 =(0.30)[(0.80)($300)+(0.20)(-$75)]+(0.60)[(0.20)($300)+(0.80)(-$75)]+(0.10)(-$75)

I mean seriously is this really necessary?

I'm still gonna read this thing but i don't think i could stomach reading it front to back... its a horrible read. I will have to skip through it, some chapters i want to read:

Adjusting to stack sizes
Multiple Level Thinking
Adjusting to loose games and players
Adjusting to Weak Tight games
The Advantages of being short stacked
Concepts and weapons

btw when i say its a horrible read i dont mean the general content, I mean the way it was written.
I will reserve final judgement until i read the rest of the book, but i doubt i will ever buy another sklansky book... regardless of who he is.

I probably won't read it, as I'm math-retarded and don't want to bleed from my eyes. That said, I'm sure it's great.

Yeah its a poorly written book but its full of stuff that you should know. At the least know how to count outs and do a quick percentage (outs *4 on flop. outs *2 on turn)

Seriously tho you should not only finish it but you should read it several times. The guy's a lot better then all of us im sure

I don't think most people, or even most poker players, appreciate the full impact of math on decisions. When you decide against a third burrito or to go to work instead of rubbing out another one, you are doing a cost-benefit analysis. Yes, you are doing math every single time you make a decision. It doesn't seem like math because the thoughts running through your head have no numbers or equations in them, but its there. As long as you are thinking "is it worth it" or "which one is better" or "behind which door is there more likely to be a car than a goat" or "is this asshole next to me gonna swerve into my lane and if so, what should i do," you're doing math. The only fact that separates this math from math in a textbook is that you're not using exact numbers, but ranges. Ranges of values, ranges of probabilities...sound like poker at all ?

Sklansky mentions repeatedly that the point of showing the expectation equations is not so that you will play all future sesesions with a calculator in hand, but that the reader understand where decisions are coming from and what factors go into them. Yeah, the equations are annoying and jarring whenever they pop up, but choke back your disgust and read on.

Knowing the math behind (poker) decisions is not a mandatory prereq for being a profitable poker player, and neither is it a guarantee. But it can only help. So don't be scared of the math, you do it all day every day.

Originally Posted by mb2447

I don't think most people, or even most poker players, appreciate the full impact of math on decisions. When you decide against a third burrito or to go to work instead of rubbing out another one, you are doing a cost-benefit analysis. Yes, you are doing math every single time you make a decision. It doesn't seem like math because the thoughts running through your head have no numbers or equations in them, but its there. As long as you are thinking "is it worth it" or "which one is better" or "behind which door is there more likely to be a car than a goat" or "is this asshole next to me gonna swerve into my lane and if so, what should i do," you're doing math. The only fact that separates this math from math in a textbook is that you're not using exact numbers, but ranges. Ranges of values, ranges of probabilities...sound like poker at all ?

Sklansky mentions repeatedly that the point of showing the expectation equations is not so that you will play all future sesesions with a calculator in hand, but that the reader understand where decisions are coming from and what factors go into them. Yeah, the equations are annoying and jarring whenever they pop up, but choke back your disgust and read on.

Knowing the math behind (poker) decisions is not a mandatory prereq for being a profitable poker player, and neither is it a guarantee. But it can only help. So don't be scared of the math, you do it all day every day.

I just stopped crying that was so funny and I agree totally. A nice way of verbalizing something we inherently know but don't know we know, or something like that.

OT .... vegascoop ... I like the avatar.

Yea i don't like the way sklansky writes, it makes me feel like i'm reading a boring uni textbook. I read them anyways, though, because it is very beneficial to my game.

i finished SSHE a month or so ago, just finished HOH1 and am beginning HOH2, and I found it incredibly easier to read Harringtons book. Both offer incredible insight and strategy, but Harringtons writing style is just much easier IMO.

Originally Posted by mb2447

to go to work instead of rubbing out another one

$$$ vs

I deal with this almost every day