Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No-Limit Hold'em Mathematics You Need to Know

Probably a common story. I'm a long-time recreational player who thought they knew how to play NL Hold'em well, until I suffered one too many embarrassing losses due to my own lack of skill. I realized that the poker math was one of my weak spots, but I feared my lack of math proficiency - especially on the fly in time sensitive situations - would be a big roadblock to improving. That's all changed thanks to Essential Poker Math. Alton Hardin has accumulated a number of the most critical poker math concepts and equations into a very easy to read book. He's laid them out logically and in an easy-to-digest form with plenty of examples so as not to scare-off non-math people like myself. Many of the concepts come with time-saving tips that actually AOVID having to do math in your head such as memorizing odds-to-percentages tables, using the rule of 2 and 4, memorizing # of outs for common scenarios, etc... As the book progresses, you tie more and more of the concepts together to start making better decisions in certain scenarios. IMO, the most valuable part of this book are all the Exercises Alton has created. I hate math, but I loved doing these exercises! I'd seriously pay for a book with nothing but hundreds of these Exercises with Alton's thought process at the bottom explaining how to think-through the scenario. I learned a lot more than just math from these. One thing I think Alton missed was recommending poker training software or simulators so readers can apply what they've learned and practice to improve their speed and accuracy. All online free poker sites use "turbo" mode where you've only got 60 seconds to act (and players are all crazy maniacs). While slower paced, live poker games are too few and far between for most people to use for a lot of practice. Pointing readers to a good poker simulator would really make this book complete. Great book. I'd highly recommend to anyone learning poker, even if you're bad at math like me.

Alton works to demystify the mathematics behind solid poker play. He breaks concepts into easy to digest terms, making them easy to use and apply. For the longest time I relied solely on towels and reads to play poker. When I found myself in loose table situations, I was unable to adjust. I now feel confident that I can use the concept of EV to make good overall sound mathematically, based decisions. I am someone that has always enjoyed arithmetic and algebra, so this book is fun to use the math. I enjoyed it so much that I plan on enrolling in his online trainings, and purchased the workbook addition to practice more of the basic concepts further. I really am grateful that I found this book. Just buy it. You won’t regret it.

Good intermediate poker math / strategy book. A step above the absolute basics, but nothing too advanced. Written in a pretty casual tone, easy light read.

There is a tremendous amount of information put forth in this book, but done in an intelligent and logical way. Each chapter feeds the next and so forth. I found the information a bit overwhelming at points, but I can already see some of the benefits taking place. I just need to practice some of the formulas so the become quicker and/or second nature.

I really liked this book. It was easy to follow and gave a lot of practice examples. A lot of the concepts mentioned in here I have heard multiple times before so it's nice to finally get a better understanding of poker math. I would recommend this book for sure. I look forward to taking the poker course that he provides as well.

Alton Hardin has done it again! He is my "go to" poker teacher - I have a library of his books and I have bought all of his poker video courses. I studied poker for 2 years through various means but ended up with a muddled head - a lack of "putting it all together". Alton has straightened all of that out, and my moving from a losing player to a consistent session winning player has shown me his teachings work. I am no pro - just a recreational player wanting to enjoy the game more and Alton has given me the tools and confidence to progress. I am a student of his first Poker Math book and the companion video course. Alton has taken the Essential Poker Math to a whole new level with this Expanded Edition. This edition is much more robust - elaborating on the basic concepts then adding the more advanced concepts. All subjects are explained thoroughly for student comprehension. The many hand examples and many practice hands bridge academia with practical implementation. The chapters include specifics on how to properly evaluate draws, steals, 3bets, set-mining, etc. Alton does include the impact of player types and folds that in appropriately. But he avoids what I find in so many poker educational materials - saying "just be aggressive against fish". This book puts context to the many dimensions of poker. Alton transcends textbook learning by taking that next step to instilling HOW to apply the math as you play. That is unique and VERY important. He makes Poker Math practical to apply. You leave a chapter having a real game plan to institute. Make no mistake - Poker Math is important to becoming a more accomplished player. Intuition may have its role at the table but base that in proven mathematical concepts. This book serves the live player as well as the online player - I am both. As with any poker teaching you need to focus and concentrate and learn what is presented - if you "study" the book properly, and don't treat it as "just a read", you will reap rewards. I can not recommend this book any higher, and all of Alton Hardin's other poker educational materials as well.

The entire text is incredibly verbose and tedious. Some concepts are repeated three times with different wordings for no apparent reason. The 266 pages probably could be 50. Note that, especially for relatively unread players, the concepts are still important to learn but I think they'd be easier if more concise. My second criticism is that the author downplays adapting the math to the situation. For example, in the second example hand in the book, he states that (based upon a pot-sized bet on the turn) the opponent is a 91 to 9 favorite and it's an easy fold. But in my experience, the draw heavy hand presented is frequently a pair and a draw or even a bluff by an aggressive player. My own math says that (overall) we're probably a 60/40 underdog and I'd probably fold unless my opponent is particularly aggressive, in which case I'd call. But definitely not 91/9. Overall, worth reading if you haven't studied poker math before, but with a grain of salt.

The concepts were easy to understand and they give you a quick way to estimate your EV. I highly recommend it for those starting to study poker.

A guy like me who is worst with maths and especially when it has to be done in mind understood almost everything that is written in this book ( Wish you were my math teacher) it also added many unheard terms to my knowledge as I'm a beginner and will help me in poker! And thank you for sharing your proficiency much love.

Probably one of the best essential poker Math books available. Moreover, the examples included in the book help in enforcing the explained concepts.

In this book Alton provides us with powerful and easy-to-understand tools. I’ve already successfully tested some of them playing online poker.

Essential Poker Math is not a book about complex theories or analysis of computer-generated statistics. It is a practical book that unveils the fundamental principles that govern poker. Easy to understand and to apply in real games. A reference book on the subject.

Very good book!