Poker

The very most important skill a poker player needs to manage is not math, it's not reading opponents, it's not good starting hand selection, it's not a solid game plan, it's self-control. Fortunately this is one place where the interests of honest winning players directly coincide with those of the casino. While this phenomenon is good for poker in all its forms, there is an effect that can transform a lot of these players who could be winners into losers, and they then abandon poker out of frustration. One advantage that mathematically inclined players have in poker is the ability to more accurately calculate the expectation of each hand or situation. That’s straightforward enough, but it also happens to be true that sometimes you should not take the best of it when it is offered. A problem with this that plagues many otherwise good poker club players, especially those that play in very live games regularly, is that when they hit losing streaks or when bad luck hits them extra hard. Sometimes this value will be absolutely known. For example, your sole opponent bets all-in into you when you hold the nut hand. You will precisely know what your expectation of calling is simply by counting the pot. Last year I was involved in an internet discussion concerning the value of math skills versus people skills in poker. An easy example: bluffing on the river in a situation where you know your opponent holds very little, but you know your hand is worse. Tactics then only make consistent sense when they are seen as an aspect of strategy, and not an end in themselves, and this explains why the way a lot of players approach the game makes little sense.