[David Sklansky]

The question as it stands is almost pure math. All the world class players realized that. Even those with less than adequate math skills. How much math applies to poker in general is another story. My comments are about the stated problem only. In that problem it is highly unlikely that players will call with A9 or K9 or fold 88 or AQ. That's all the non math knowledge you need.

Meanwhile let me go on record as stating this:

The only players who really have a right to argue with me about the importance of math to poker are those who know how to do the math. And there are plenty of players who both know how and think math is less important than I do. Howard Lederer, Mike Caro, etc (Chris Ferguson on the other hand is on the other extreme, I believe). But those who argue against math they do not know how to do can not be taken seriously. Even world class players (who would do even better if they learned math). There are two obvious reasons. One is that they don't really understand the power of mathematical analysis. Two is that they are almost certainly biased against the power of math to help poker decisions because it would be better for them if their opinions were true.