Poker Strategy MATH Every Pro Knows

So, in realtime if someone bets 10k into 100k pot and 4 people call (including you) ... since they bet 1/10, your pot odds equity requirement is 1/15th or 6.6%. Basically, just figure out the bet/pot ratio and add the number of people continuing in the hand (better + all the callers including you) to the denominator. That 6.6% is at least how often you need to win the hand to be profitable.

How do you apply pot odds to the hands you hold and the hands you think your opponent holds? Equity requirements?

I do not use math or pot odds, i just play my hand,,,,,hahahahahahahaha,,,,,,I cashed in 3 straight WSOP events this year. Of course i use pot odds sometimes, it depends on my stack size and hand. I do not call just because i am getting good pot odds, i can play a awesome short stack if needed.

James Sweeney, I probably listen to you for around 20 years and only today i have seen your face. ahahah Played the video and immediately recognized the voice.

Pot odds always confuse me, how come the money you have already invested in the hand count towards winnings? If you invested $15 and your opponent invested the same and is now betting $10 making the pot $40 in my mind im going to be calling $10 to win $25 not $40....

So if there is 200 in the pot villain bets 100. ( 300 total ) , hero needs to call 100 to win 400 total. Isnt that 4:1 , so 25% equity needed ? But ur saying its different ? Im confused by what ur saying

But ye

Then there's the day you get beaten by set over set 3 times, beaten by quads twice, and your aces lose every time when all in preflop. This was my yesterday. I was beaten by hands with a 95%+ probability by miracle rivers in hands that my opponent never should have even been in based on their odds of winning. On these days you know math is a cold hearted bitch.

Im confused in the first 3 examples you gave on pot odds.
For example, if we are risking 4k and the profit is 16k then the pot is 20k so we need to win 1/5 or 20% of the times to break even, not 1/6.

That way we win 16k 1/5 times and we lose 4k the other 4/5 times.

So, EV = 1/5 × 16 - 4/5 × 4 = 0 as expected...

You are adding one number to the denominator.

I think..you could do better as an auctioneer, dude!

does this 'math' help you win or bet better, considering you have zero control over flop, turn, river?

Good knowledge but you talk so fast. I don't understand why the rush when we want to learn. Thanks though, I'll just do 75% speed on settings.

You have to work on the way you speak. The sing song way you talk is way too annoying to pay attention to what you're saying

I watched this three times and didn't understand any of it, is poker not for me?

great vid.

I love your videos and they are helping me immensely! Could you explain how you came up with 2.3:1 (during the Pot Odds example)? I'm horrible at math so I'm sure it seems obvious to anyone else. Thanks for the great content!

Sweeeeeny! Thank you. Been learning from you for years now. Took a break but im back and your content is even more impressive. Thank you!!!

You lost me at 'one over one plus five' so i'm out.

Some people wear shades because they think their eyes give them away. Mean while all real pros no to hide their chins because the chin can be an easy tell to see.

it doesnt work for 53 calls and sucks out

boring voice

I think I remember you from around 2005 u did some vids I watched when I started playing NLH nice to see u still at it and thank you for your insights it definitely help me.

Great video… Thanks

Thank you big guy

😀

I recently bought your Math Workbook! I'm in dealing school, preparing to Deal for the "WSOP" next Month, and my weakest point is Math. Hopefully your Book helps me‼️🙏🙏

Dude I bought your workbook and although I do fractions all day long at work installing tile and do them pretty quickly I have a real tough time understanding how your doing this. The only thing I’ve ever been good at in math is fractions because I feel like I can just see them in my head, everything else I’m terrible at. And and I’m not being critical but holy smokes you talk so fast and it’s like you never take a breath, so while I’m thinking about one calculation you’re already three steps ahead. Any way you could do a video on how to calculate odds for dummies? In my life, I’ve only played in four live tournaments, three small nightly tournaments at Caesars and won one of them and bagged at last year’s WPT championship at the Wynn. So I have potential, but I really want to understand the maths better.

As a sports bettor with a sports betting mind, I do not understand your required equity to continue. So the way I look at it when making my decision is if the betting were to end right now, how often do I win the hand. That’s how I’m looking at equity in any situation, so in the very first example you are 4k to win 16k and to return 20k. This is 4:1 or in sports betting +400. So let’s say we run that 100 times (you can extrapolate 1000, 10k etc.). Total I’m risking 400k correct? With an equity of 17% I’m saying that from here I should win 17% of the time, so over a 100 times I should win 17 times correct? The return is 20k times 17 equaling 340k. So it’s a spot that’s generating negative ROI because your total investment is 400k to return only 340k. So I feel that you need at least 20% equity to continue. So I just wanna ask, am I looking at this the wrong way? Am I missing something? Just want to learn

In the specific example where you have AT, aren't you _ beating_ most of the hands that fold? You say that they are calling only with hands that beat you but you have second pair, best kicker. The only tine that they fold a hand where you need them to fold is when it would be a chop. If they are folding all one-pair hands, a you discuss later, it makes more sense to bluff.

I think the solvers really picked up on pot odds and why 2x+ pot raises are often a good solution as a pot bet still have an opponent 2:1 pot odds

I'm sure there are many players, like myself, that do really well at the tables but are hopeless at maths. I realise it's important to have maths in your arsenal and I'd win more if I had a solid understanding but I cannot sit at the tables doing these formulas because I'd spend forever getting to the place mathematical players get to in seconds.

Damn. I've been playing for a long time and I just realised I don't know anything. Glad the algorithm gave me this lol. I've added your book to the wishlist for pay day.

I suspect that hand reading and putting specific opponents on accurate ranges in a variety of spots is as important as math. If you play against every player like they play correctly you can make some big mistakes.

nicely done

Giant over-bets - throw all the math out of window when deciding if you're going to call or not. This is going to be highly dependent on many other factors. Mostly, does your opponent bluff a lot?

Real question

Do you guys holding a calculator in your hand when playin poker?

This is great, these videos have taught me so much. Keep ‘em coming!

the trick I use for pot odds is the following:

if % of pot 1/4 then pot odds ratio 1/5 then required equity 1/6

other example

if % of pot 1/2 then pot odds ratio 1/3 then required equity 1/4

always works if numerator is 1

if numerator is not 1 you need to add the numerator to the denominator

if % of pot 3/4 then pot odds ratio 3/7 then required equity 3/10

you'll notice it matches your results perfectly

gotta love math

Perfect. Personally, I’ve needed a video like this for ages. Excellent content as per, thanks a lot James.

Super Solid!

👍👍👍👍👍👊

Great job

Love you JS, but why is it you can always rely on poker coaches to complicated the math process way beyond the necessary? Its easier to work out pot-odds when you compare the amount to you have to call to the total pot after the call is made.

You're doing awesome with the channel. Been catching up every day of your last 5+ years.

First! Lol