The Mathematics of Poker
by Bill Chen, Jerrod Ankenman · first published 2006
93% recommend7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Rigorous game-theory and probability treatment of poker, covering optimal versus exploitative play from the ground up. Suits mathematically inclined players who want the foundations of modern poker theory.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…tactic of folding whenever you bet big becomes unprofitable. Poker is about figuring out all of these things and then using these tools to make the most money. Bill Chen wrote a great book called "The Mathematics of Poker" that goes through all the math involved. It's all probability theory and game theory. He gave a talk at MIT that goes over some of the basic concepts -> https://youtu.be/BuxCNZ0RVKA The obvious issue…
on “Teach your kids poker, not chess” ↗…particular player's weaknesses. The Alberta guys are doing work on that part too. Exploitative play can improve your profit but also makes you more vulnerable. For a good overview of this stuff, the book Mathematics of Poker by Ankenman and Chen is a good place to start. I agree though that HFT is awfully competitive these days. If I had to choose between the two I'd play poker.
on “How I made $500k with machine learning and high frequency trading” ↗…course change as people change styles, but the basics are there. If you are mathematically minded or just interested in a whirlwind tour through game theory and gambling theory, I highly recommend The Mathematics of Poker by Chen and Ankenman -- but it's a pretty heavy lift https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Poker-Bill-Chen/dp/188607... I've also heard good things about Applications of No-Limit Holdem by Matthew Janda…
on “How 'Advantage Players' Game the Casinos” ↗Have you checked out "The Mathematics of Poker" by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman? This books does some neat game theory based analysis of poker and comes up with some surprising results. I've pondered what some sharp hacker type might do given that…
on “Experimenting with a Neural Network-based Poker Bot ” ↗…80s, and the 50s, and 20s, and so on. The vast majority of modern strategy content is a restatement or application of the content from two canonical texts: the aforementioned Theory of Poker, and Chen's Mathematics of Poker. Even most coaches who charge the three-figure fees admit this. It's just that most people don't want to put in the gritty analysis work, hence the coaches stay in business.
on “The Science of Winning Poker” ↗If you're only taking into account direct pot odds for NLHE in 2015, you're missing out on a lot. I like the book "The Mathematics of Poker" by Chen.
on “Poker Theory and Analytics” ↗Super System is outdated. Sklansky is good but extremely dry. If you are mathematically inclined, Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen (one of the lecturers in the linked post) is one of best books to get introduced to modern poker theory & math. TwoPlusTwo is the biggest community but their quality has gone south for many…
on “Poker Theory and Analytics” ↗…hard to find tables that will happily pay off nitty play ad infinitum. I'd make a list of concepts you should learn about, but I think it'll be easier for me to make a list of books you should read: The Mathematics of Poker (Chen and Ankenman) Applications of No-Limit Poker (Janda) Expert Heads up No-Limit Hold 'em (Tipton, this one is nice as the author is a Computer Scientist and also has a course on building a solver.)…
on “What Winning $250k at Poker Taught Me About Money” ↗The Mathematics of Poker, by Chen & Ankenman - this one doesn't age because it's really fundamental if you want to understand things from the ground up. But it won't seem that practical at first. Applications of No-Limit Hold…
on “How A.I. Conquered Poker” ↗…game in some depth around a decade ago (maybe longer than that). Both practical strategy as counseled by experts, and also on a more formal, theoretical level. I have one physical book on the topic - The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman - and can highly recommend it. I wasn't really aiming to "correct" you but just give additional insight. It seems like you clearly recognize the impact that luck has…
on “I Won $16k in a Poker Tournament” ↗Where can I learn what you learn to make +EV plays? I did some poker back in the day, it was fun :) One of my favorite books was The Mathematics of Poker
on “I should have loved biology” ↗If anyone wants to know more about actual poker theory they should read "The Mathematics of Poker" (a warning - it's not a light read).
on “Texas Hold'em Experiment” ↗In my opinion the most valuable book that is still relevant from pre-19 is Mathematics of Poker. But proper poker study should come from playing around with solvers, ideally with somebody who can guide you through not making the most common mistakes.
on “At 88, Poker Legend Doyle Brunson Is Still Bluffing. Or Is He?” ↗The only "GTO" that I found beneficial was 'optimal play' from Mathematics of Poker. You don't have to read formulas and math because their summary section gives a pretty good overview of the concept that is easier to understand. They also have section on 'exploitative play' which is…
on “We don't need no stinkin' tensor library: solving poker in custom WebGPU kernels” ↗…making decisions based on what you think the makeup of that distribution is (and also based on what you think your opponent thinks your distribution is). Also, in 2006 Chen and Ankenman published The Mathematics of Poker which quite explicitly deals with the analysis of hand distributions (e.g. chapter 8: Playing Accurately Part II: Hand vs. Distribution, chapter 9: Adaptive Play: Distribution vs. Distribution). So even…
on “The Science of Winning Poker” ↗