Poker coming to Monmouth?

Yeah, I hear my buddy Scott LaFountaine is opening up a poker club here in Monmouth. It should be good. I know he'll have stakes at least as low as $0.50/$1.00, and it will be pay by the hour to play, plus some initial fee. I think he can scrape by with $3 at the door, $1 per hour, and since there is no rake or whatever, I think he should offer stakes as low as $0.01/$0.02, or even play money chips. It won't affect his hourly rate, and it will encourage more casual players, which is where the profit is for everyone.

What do you think, Scott? . . . Now I'll have to get him to read this somehow . . . *poke*

Yeah, Math & Poker

They really don't have that much to do with each other. Well, not arithmetic anyways. Game theory, yes, but most people think of that as something else. Psychology really can give you the same results that game theory does. They both use a lot of statistics, and attempt to predict behavior. Psychology more so than most mathematics.

I read Caro's Most Profitable Hold'Em Advice. All about psychology. Very little about odds, etc. Mostly about image, business, and psychology. You really want to entertain your table mates, so they pay you to entertain them. Like a tip, "oh, your funny and I like you, so here, take a pot."

Also, if you are friendly, and seem to not take the game seriously, and seem to be lucky, they won't be inspired to play particularly strong against you, they will just play easy and friendly and let you take their money. So always stay friendly. Never let anyone know you play seriously, and don't ever criticize anyone's play. The last thing you want to do is let them know you are analyzing and scrutinizing their play. If they think you pay attention to how they play, then they might pay attention to how they play. And you don't want that. :p

So, what did I learn? Math & poker are like . . . well, they're just not that related, necessarily. Sure, there might be some "optimal strategy" according to game theory, but you can do much better than that if you just play tight, and convince everyone else your just splashing around like the rest of them. Or even if you don't convince them, as long as they keep doing it, and you all have fun, you'll kick their butts. ;)

So good luck, and have fun out there. And why not, win a bunch of money too.