| The Mathematics of Poker |  | Authors: Bill Chen, Jerrod Ankenman
Publisher: Conjelco
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $13.99
as of 9/7/2010 11:13 CDT details
You Save: $15.96 (53%)
New (37) Used (21) from $13.99
Seller: XJacKer
Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 40,613
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 382
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1886070253
Dewey Decimal Number: 795
EAN: 9781886070257
ASIN: 1886070253
Publication Date: November 30, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Tell A Friend
Add to Wishlist
Add to Wedding Registry
Add to Baby Registry
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9781886070257 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the bond an option markets were dominated by traders who had learned their craft by experience. They believed that there experience and intuition for trading were a renewable edge; this is, that they could make money just as they always had by continuing to trade as they always had. By the mid-1990s, a revolution in trading had occurred; the old school grizzled traders had been replaced by a new breed of quantitative analysts, applying mathematics to the "art" of trading and making of it a science. Similarly in poker, for decades, the highest level of pokers have been dominated by players who have learned the game by playing it, "road gamblers" who have cultivated intuition for the game and are adept at reading other players' hands from betting patterns and physical tells. Over the last five to ten years, a whole new breed has risen to prominence within the poker community. Applying the tools of computer science and mathematics to poker and sharing the information across the Internet, these players have challenged many of the assumptions that underlie traditional approaches to the game. One of the most important features of this new approach is a reliance on quantitative analysis and the application of mathematics to the game. The intent of this book is to provide an introduction to quantitative techniques as applied to poker and to a branch of mathematics that is particularly applicable to poker, game theory. There are mathematical techniques that can be applied for poker that are difficult and complex. But most of the mathematics of poker is really not terribly difficult, and the authors have sought to make seemingly difficult topics accessible to players without a very strong mathematical background.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
 Very math heavy July 11, 2010
I'm Just Saying. (So Cal)
This book is very math heavy (duh) in that you will need to know basic calculus to comprehend it. From about the 3rd page on, it become math focus and you will need to know the beginning to be able to get the later on concepts.
Print too small July 1, 2010
J. Boulie
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read the introduction and the beginning of the first chapter and I enjoy the way the authors think, BUT the print on this book is ridiculously small!!!! I have good near vision, but reading this book gives me a headache.
 Excellent Advanced Poker Book... December 16, 2009
Gabriel Wechter (Fort Collins, CO)
I am well-read in poker literature and would recommend this book for advanced players. It will benefit cash game, tourney and SnG players alike. [If you are an improving intermediate player, but have a math or economics background, I think you would also find it helpful. If you have read less than 5 poker books or need to learn more fundamentals, you would likely get more value from reading other books first.] Many of the concepts presented apply broadly across different types of poker games.
This book exposes the true (and sometimes counter-intuitive) nature of common situations that arise in games of confrontation. The authors do an excellent job making game theory accessible to those without a math or econ/finance background, while not being afraid to ply into the underlying math for those interested. They successfully keep the topics focused on their relevance to poker, trimming out discussion that would be more mathematically complete, but bog down the poker learning.
They also do an excellent job of building up from fundamental concepts and examples (variable-constrained "toy" games) to more complex and applicable scenarios similar to those found in the mathematically complex world of poker. They gradually introduce new concepts and variables into the toy games as they come to resemble actual poker scenarios, with insights gained along the way. It helps solidify a meta-understanding of the game, and I suspect that even most advanced players will at least refine aspects of their play after reading. Note that it is, however, written in a heavy, take-your-time-digesting-it style, so it's not a quick breezy airport read. Some highlights:
+ The best poker book by far that I have encountered for game theory topics.
+ There are plenty of new ideas presented even for well-read players.
+ Delves elagantly into the nature of optimal play, exploitation and counter-exploitation. Learn to dominate others to extract value and how to adjust to prevent yourself from being dominated.
+ Presents concepts of risk, bankroll management, etc that I have yet to see elsewhere in poker literature.
+ Challenges some common conventions of most poker players and some authors.
+ Many concepts are digestable for most without a heavy math backgroud, though those gifted in math will likely take away a deeper understanding after reading.
- One aspect I would have liked to see more about is the Jam-or-fold scnearios. They do an excellent job of showing solid HEADS-UP strategy, but I would have liked to see this expanded to include 3+ player ICM-type scenarios. I would have also liked to see them quantify some of the weaknesses in ICM modeling, such as accounting for impending blinds, etc. In other words, a position- / equity- / blind-dependent jam-or-fold framework for a several player games would have been very helpful (even if it accepts ICM as-is, but especially if it refined it).
 If you didn't major in Math, don't get this book. October 1, 2009
Mike (Florida)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
So I made it through Calculus II in college about 8 years ago and felt like I needed to complete my math major before understanding this book. It goes a little too deep into the mathmatics of poker. Actually, way too deep. The equations used to make their point are ridiculous in length. I guess I was hoping for simpler math that can be easily used at the table to compute different pot odds, etc. This is not that book. This is good for in depth study of poker mathematics and discussion groups... such as an actual classroom study over several months. They have good points but it can all be summed up easily after taking out the 95% of fluff used in math language...but then the book would only be about 20 pages long. Instead here is what happens when math geniuses get to author a book.
Not for everyone July 23, 2009
J. McCutcheon
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Firstly, if you have not taken at least one statistics course, you probably won't understand much in this book. There are also some topics using calculus, but are explained in a way to where you may not actually need to understand the calculus in order to understand the point they are trying to make. I am currently in college and have only taken Statistics I, and Calculus I & II so far and I really had to focus in some parts of the book in order to follow the math.
I learned A LOT from this book and was very happy that I read it early in my "poker career." It goes extremely deep into seemingly-simple topics and shows how you can eek out a slight percentage advantage in certain situations. I benefited the most from the parts covering "optimal play" where some interesting points were made.
I own ~10 no-limit hold'em books (most of the popular ones) and this book was by far the most advanced book I have read. I would highly recommend this book to any intermediate/advanced players looking to improve their game, but not if you can't handle a lot of math; this book isn't for everyone.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Poker DVD | Online Poker Training
|
Blu Ray Movie
| |
