Dragaera

Poker (was Vlad)

Fri Apr 2 12:24:43 PST 2004


Brother Ike
Unix Admin
My thoughts alone
Dog is my copilot

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Jerry Friedman wrote:

>
> --- Ike Porter <ike at manor.org> wrote:
> > On Thu, 1 Apr 2004, Sunny Han wrote:
> >
> > > I love to watch poker on TV. But like, at the table, do players have a
> > > just a feel of what chances they have, and just like uhm a mental note
> > > of what to do or do they really calculate those odds and compare?
> > >
> > > -S
> >
> > Briefly...
> >
> > Some players know the numbers to the nth degree. Others have at least a
> > vague clue about it. Some just like to donate.
> >
> > It still comes down to all the odds in the world not helping you if you
> > don't know how to play your hand.
>
> But don't the odds help you know how to play your hand?

They do help you, yes, and if that's all the original question was asking
I apologise for rambling on :)

Poker is a game of limited information. You can be holding the the best
possible hand and get bullied or bluffed out of a pot.  Or you can be
holding absolute crap and force someone out. I guess what I was trying to
say is that being a successful player is about a lot more than just the
odds of a certain draw or pot odds...knowing the odds is only a start to
the skills you need.