Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No-Limit Hold'em Mathematics You Need to Know

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 1,258 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 12-26-2024


Top reviews from the United States

R. EARLS
5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to be a math wiz or a poker pro to learn these mathematics and up your game!
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
Probably a common story. I'm a long-time recreational player who thought they knew how to play NL Hold'em well, until I suffered one too many embarrassing losses due to my own lack of skill. I realized that the poker math was one of my weak spots, but I feared my lack of math proficiency - especially on the fly in time sensitive situations - would be a big roadblock to improving. That's all changed thanks to Essential Poker Math.

Alton Hardin has accumulated a number of the most critical poker math concepts and equations into a very easy to read book. He's laid them out logically and in an easy-to-digest form with plenty of examples so as not to scare-off non-math people like myself. Many of the concepts come with time-saving tips that actually AOVID having to do math in your head such as memorizing odds-to-percentages tables, using the rule of 2 and 4, memorizing # of outs for common scenarios, etc... As the book progresses, you tie more and more of the concepts together to start making better decisions in certain scenarios.

IMO, the most valuable part of this book are all the Exercises Alton has created. I hate math, but I loved doing these exercises! I'd seriously pay for a book with nothing but hundreds of these Exercises with Alton's thought process at the bottom explaining how to think-through the scenario. I learned a lot more than just math from these.

One thing I think Alton missed was recommending poker training software or simulators so readers can apply what they've learned and practice to improve their speed and accuracy. All online free poker sites use "turbo" mode where you've only got 60 seconds to act (and players are all crazy maniacs). While slower paced, live poker games are too few and far between for most people to use for a lot of practice. Pointing readers to a good poker simulator would really make this book complete.

Great book. I'd highly recommend to anyone learning poker, even if you're bad at math like me.
KM
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2024
The book is great, easy to understand and put into practice. The author is also a nice guy.

You get a coupon to a free ten hour course when you purchase the book. Alton was very pleasant to deal with when receiving my code for the course.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to further their ability to calculate EV plays, pot odds, implied odds, percentage of hitting draw hands, etc.
jenna franquero
4.0 out of 5 stars Printed upsidedown
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2022
It's a good book, just surprised me when I opened the first page and found it was printed upsidedown until you get to chapter 11, then it's printed correctly to match the cover. Unless it's on purpose so people look at me weird when it looks like I'm reading my book upsidedown.....
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jenna franquero
4.0 out of 5 stars Printed upsidedown
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2022
It's a good book, just surprised me when I opened the first page and found it was printed upsidedown until you get to chapter 11, then it's printed correctly to match the cover. Unless it's on purpose so people look at me weird when it looks like I'm reading my book upsidedown.....
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Duy Han
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for cash game players
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2024
The author explained mathematical concepts that every poker player MUST know before risking your hard earned dollars in cash games. The cost of this book equals to just about 3-5 big blinds. Get it and read it!
PizzaPie
5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamentally improve your poker game.
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2024
This book teaches you poker principles, as in game theory made simple.Topics: equity, probability ,expected value and more..

Basically how to profit from poker. Easy to learn because he, the author, gives you crystal clear examples and shows the reader how to apply them.
This book allowed me to look at poker from a different perspective, Pretty cool after 30 years of playing.
Mare J.
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2024
I was super excited to get this book based on the reviews and it hasn’t disappointed. I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far and I know it’s going to help my game immensely. It’s easy to read and understand, which is nice for someone like me who is a bit intimidated by poker math. This is a must buy for anyone looking to improve their poker game!
Lucas Reid Cooper
3.0 out of 5 stars The basics, but not well told
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2023
If you're new to poker, want to get better at poker, and have never read a poker book before, this is the book for you. You'll get an intro to the math, and some of the basics of fundamental strategy.

What the book lacks is the human touch. There's a lot of quizzes about hands but sometimes they flat out don't make sense the situations you are betting yourself into. Players are only loosely described, and there's no memorable personal stories or experiences to learn from.

The information in this book can be learned on the Internet spending a few hours reading through a few poker sites. If you're like me, having it concisely organized in a book is nice and worth the price.

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