Two Plus Two Older Archives - Numbers every poker player should know

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Nobody should know what any of those numbers are, unless it's to impress not very sharp people with useless trivia.

eastbay

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I don't share this point of view. If you're any good at doing arithemtic in your head, why wouldn't you want to know reasonably precise percentages for the various common situations? It's not like we're talking about ten places after the decimal point or anything.

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ilya tell me one practical value for knowing these exact numbers? I mean everyone should have a general feel, but there is no practical benefit to knowing the precise numbers. I mean I couldnt have told you whether the number was 43%, 45% or 41% for JJ, but I knew it aws somewhere around there (I knew it was a bit less than 50%). Not knowing the difference between the above figures would never have a serious impact on my play.

Let's just asy that if you asked Phil Ivey or a horde of other pro players these questions, I would bet that he couldnt consistantly come within 1% of most of the answers, but would come within 3-4%.

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The practical value of knowing these numbers would of course lie in being able to make better-informed decisions about whether to call, raise, or fold.
My point is just that if you're good enough at doing arithmetic, a figure like 40.2% looks just like 41-43% does to you and me -- "somewhere around there." That is, I think the definition of "general feel" varies depending on the speed & accuracy of one's mental calculator.

So, if you're really sharp with that sort of thing, might as well put that advantage to good use.

Yes, I agree, there are more efficient ways to improve. However sometimes you just doesn't feel up to doing serious analysis. That's when you can whip out the flashcards!