Can Card-Counting Be Applied To Poker? - The Odds-On Favourite - Part 3
If you’ve been to Vegas, are a Blackjack player, or just watch the semi-dramatic T&A eye candy jiggle TV show Las Vegas, you know that casinos frown on card-counting. In fact, it’s illegal. If you get caught. There have been many theories put forth regarding card-counting, and all of them have been mathematically sound - hence the fear they raise in the hearts of casino owners.
But these methods have all been too complicated for most players. At least until now, according to an article by Frank Scoblete, since an engineer/ mathematician and a gaming author put together a new strategy. [Actually, Scoblete is one of the authors of a new book on the method.]
However, the new strategy only applies to Blackjack, a game where the bulk of the cards played are face up, and the decks are used up completely before being replaced. Poker is played very differently. In Texas Hold’em at least, one deck is used, and when a hand is over, the full deck is reshuffled and reused.
Thus, card counting might work for some forms of poker, but cannot really factor into Texas Hold’em. In Blackjack, the mathematical odds favour the house, especially with 2- or 4-deck games. In Texas Hold’em, there really is no house per se. (The house takes a rake but does not play.) So you are up against every one of your opponents instead of the house, and you cannot see their cards, only the face up cards on the table - which your opponents also see.
However, as you’ve no doubt heard many times, understanding the odds for any hand you get does give you an advantage over players who do not bother. You don’t need a degree in mathematical game theory, but understanding relative card hand odds is the least you should learn. If you fear the math, the alternative is learning your odds advantage over a lifetime of playing - a slow, steady organic way to learn that’s just as respectable, but which will not satisify those who need immediate gratification.
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The Poker Blog » Poker Odds: Poker Hands Combinations Diagram
April 20th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
[…] Fortunately for me, my father, like Chris’ father and mother, was a Mathematics Professor. I used to read his Game Theory books when I was a young nerd of somewhere between 12-13. But it took me a while fiddling with cards before I started to understand card game theory. Since my earlier series of poker hand odds seemed to draw a lot of readers, compared to other posts, I thought I’d explore game theory a bit more. (Text continued below the diagram.) […]