November 4, 2006
Poker & Math
As Terrence Chan recently pointed out, The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Jerrod Ankenman is currently for sale. That is the one poker book I've been looking forward to in the past three years, excepting my own of course.
I'm not really a math guy by poker industry standards, but I'm very interested to see what I'm missing out on. Bill told me a little about it when I met him in Vegas this summer and I've talked to a couple people who've read advanced copies. It sounds intriguing. I'll be sure to post my thoughts on it here once I've finished.
I'm always a little skeptical of overly-analytical approaches to poker, as I think applying mathematics correctly often involves making too many assumptions to do with any accuracy. There are often just too many variables to control for. But at the same time I think a strong theoretical base is extraordinarily helpful, so I'm going in with an open mind here. I'm positive I'll learn something and consider it highly likely that I will learn a lot. And if not, I know where to find the authors. I could write them an email demanding my money back.
Posted by themaroon at November 4, 2006 4:00 AM