Customer Reviews

TEXAS HOLD'EM ODDS

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you want to know all math behind Hold'em, from probability point of view, this is the source. It is not a classical strategy book (maybe many more recommendations for particular hands would be useful), but it really covers all gaming situations in Hold'em. No book I read thus far has such well organized coverage on odds and probability. Holding in one hand a good strategy book and in the other this odds book, you will probably win a lot during time. I recommend it instead of any odds calculator, because you will see here the applied formulas and you will be able to learn and apply the probability calculus for any particular hand or for other poker games.

If you are looking for a recreational reading, this is not the book for you. It has a complete coverage on odds and math behind Hold'em and it is very well organized. It also contains new information that has not been worked out before, like long-shot odds for events of "at least one opponent" type. All results are comprised in tables at the end of each section. It's great. I found it far superior than Petriv's similar book. I highly recommend it as a necessary completion for any strategy book.

Having read many of the above reviews, it is clear that many people claim that the maths involved is far too difficult. This is not true. Yes you do have to have a reasonable understanding of maths but suggesting you need a phd is stupid. I would say that you need an average understanding of basic mathematical principles as well as a certain degree of experinece of playing hold'em in order to improve your poker from this book.

I have this book and by simply reading it, the hands you chase and dont chase change dramatically, it really does have an effect on the way you play. It covers the mathematical thinking behind calculating odds for hands but also shows the overall odds in a table.

However if you take time and study the book then you find yourself subconsiously calculating odds at the table and in turn becoming a more accomplished poker player. In time the skills and logic covered in the book become second nature and you find you can devote more time to studying the other players.

One slight drawback to this book is that when you begin to apply it to your game, it can take time to perfect it, and you find yourself not being able to concentrate as much on other aspects of the game such as positioning, table image, picking up tells and reads etc. Having said that in order to be a succesful poker player, calculating odds is an essential skill and all good poker players must experinece this difficult stage. I recommend trying the skills on online tournaments as you get to see a lot of hands without risking money. Also the quality of opponent has no say in hand odds.

Overall i would say that this poker book is the definitive on poker odds and if you aim to be a class player you need this book. Add this book to caros book of poker tells and a good strategy book (doyle brunsons super strategy 2 is my fav) and you will have taken a mojor step to becoming a truly fantastic poker player.

PS If you do buy this book beware that you can calculate the odds quickly and simply before tring it against live opponents. If opponents realise you are doing it on certain hands it will often give away what your hand really is. DON'T PICK UP A TELL AS WELL AS A SKILL!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a nicely organized mathmatical explaination of how poker odds work. There are some areas missed, like 1, 2, 3 gap connectors. It assumes you understand how to calculate the combinations that make your hand improve but doesn't discount some of the "improvements" as being of lessor rank than than the combination on board.

This is a raw mathmatical explaination. You might gleam some insight for improving your poker game if you are a math person, but if you are a recreational player looking to improve your ability to calculate your odds and outs, this is not the text for you.

This 143 page book for the first 117 pages is basically a compendium of the same repetitive mathematical formula. Given a particular set of cards, what is the probability of improving it?
It is a pointless list of hundreds of hands and their associated probabilities. One can compute those probabilities oneself using only the basic permutation, combination, and and/or probability formulas. In any case, what is the use of saying, the probability of a flush in this case is 1/124? I want suggestions as to, do I check, raise, fold? A bunch of numbers without conclusions is not very useful.

For a mathematical book, the author continuously confuses "odds" with "probability", very often using odds when he means probability. Those two ratios are completely different.

The grammar is atrocious to the point of incoherence. Here is a sample sentence (if one can call it that). p.131 "The moment when flop odds are calculated is after card dealing and before the flop comes" Huh? Where are the editors.

The slightly useful part of the "book" is from page 117 to 143 where some actual examples of hands and recommendations are made.
For the most part, there is very little useful narrative and only the same calculations for over a hundred pages.

Of very limited use.

It is a professional probability guide rather than a recreational book on Texas Hold'em.
If you want to know all math behind Hold'em, from probability point of view, this is the source. It is not a classical strategy book (maybe many more recommendations for particular hands would be useful), but it really covers all gaming situations in Hold'em. No book I read thus far has such well organized coverage on odds and probability. Holding in one hand a good strategy book and in the other this odds book, you will probably win a lot during time. I recommend it instead of any odds calculator, because you will see here the applied formulas and you will be able to learn and apply the probability calculus for any particular hand or for other poker games.
Don't be scared about math and formulas you'll find here, you may easily skip them and take the final results from tables.

This book is full of page after page of complex mathmatical formulae of no use whatsoever to a Texas Holdem player.
The formulae seldom relate to real situations in Texas Holdem.
The book has not even been edited properly with English and spelling errors littered throughout.

OK, you've read the other reviews and some say the maths is beyond them. Don't let this put you off! I bought it, opened it and thought 'oops, what have I bought here!?'. Anyway - its been years since I've done any statistics or probability but after looking up a few basic principles on the net it bought this book to life. So I recommend it even if you may have to put a hour or 2 of revision in! It has improved my analysis and understanding of the maths involved with the game (and makes you realise even more how bad that last beat was!!).

Although it is not a text for a recreational poker player, I gave it 5 stars because of its structure and organization. It tells you all the odds you need for any gaming situation. If you hate math, you just have to pick the needed results from tables.
If you want to go deeply into the applied probability calculus, you may follow the formulas and algorithms and you will learn useful stuff.

Despite the large amount of mathematics (formulas and algorithms), it is very well organized, such that you can skip the math parts and take the needed odds for a specific gaming situation.
You will find all the odds involved in Hold'em strategy, professionally deducted and presented.