Expected value I wouldn’t expect most people to know, but I certainly would expect a professional poker player to know, especially when you are also charging people money to coach them.
I would agree if we were talking about Poker AI or Poker software developers here, but I don’t see why a professional poker player would need to know about expected value any more than a Go player needs to know the Minimax algorithm—humans can’t do these calculations in their heads and have to rely on gut feeling anyway (or am I wrong here? Do Poker players actually calculate probabilities? I thought it was just a cliche from Casino Royale).
There are a lot of times when you have to do actual math in poker. For example, if you bet $50 into a $100 pot, I’d have to risk $50 to win $150, and thus need to win 1⁄4 of the time to break even. If I have a flush draw, I have to estimate how often I’ll win with that flush draw, which there are shortcuts to help you do. But the example I just described is a simple one. What if there is more money left behind, so when I hit my flush I can expect to win the $150 in the pot, plus some more? And how do we incorporate the possibility of you having a higher flush draw and me losing a lot to you when we both hit the flush?
You can get by without doing any actual math, and instead just winging it, but actual math does help in these situations.
Anyway, the bigger point is that the same thing probably applies to expected value: you can get by without it. But to me, that doesn’t mean you should try to get by without it. It’s a very fundamental concept, and if you’re going to make a living with poker, why wouldn’t you take a little time to learn them?
I would agree if we were talking about Poker AI or Poker software developers here, but I don’t see why a professional poker player would need to know about expected value any more than a Go player needs to know the Minimax algorithm—humans can’t do these calculations in their heads and have to rely on gut feeling anyway (or am I wrong here? Do Poker players actually calculate probabilities? I thought it was just a cliche from Casino Royale).
There are a lot of times when you have to do actual math in poker. For example, if you bet $50 into a $100 pot, I’d have to risk $50 to win $150, and thus need to win 1⁄4 of the time to break even. If I have a flush draw, I have to estimate how often I’ll win with that flush draw, which there are shortcuts to help you do. But the example I just described is a simple one. What if there is more money left behind, so when I hit my flush I can expect to win the $150 in the pot, plus some more? And how do we incorporate the possibility of you having a higher flush draw and me losing a lot to you when we both hit the flush?
You can get by without doing any actual math, and instead just winging it, but actual math does help in these situations.
Anyway, the bigger point is that the same thing probably applies to expected value: you can get by without it. But to me, that doesn’t mean you should try to get by without it. It’s a very fundamental concept, and if you’re going to make a living with poker, why wouldn’t you take a little time to learn them?