No matter what profession you choose, it will involve math, and if you don't learn it, you could lose it.
Indeed, playing poker requires a lot of skill in reading people, looking for micro-expressions, and studying how your opponents play, and I'd like to add understanding a little math, and not just counting cards my friend. Not long ago, I was watching a poker game on TV, and I forget where it was, probably Las Vegas, and it was supposedly the grand-national championship or something of that nature. The prize for the winner would be in the neighborhood of ten million dollars, so it wasn't a small tournament.
As I was watching one of the players, they made a terrible error, apparently they were not counting the cards, or working his mathematics properly as he was placing his bets, in either case, his bluff was challenged, and he lost his hand, and was forced out of the match. I thought to myself what a silly mistake, especially for a championship poker player, who was able to get that far. There are some really simple probability math problems you can do in your head, which would have prevented that ignorant move.
It seems rather ridiculous for him to challenge the odds in the fashion he did, in fact, he was challenging nearly impossible odds because all but one of the cards of that type had already been played, yes, they were playing with multiple decks, but "all but one of the cards of that type had been played" - it would be next to impossible, read; highly improbable for him to get the card he needed, so not only were the odds stacked against him, his probability was down to almost zero percent.
Okay so the moral of the story here, just because you think you were going to be a professional poker player when you grow up like those folks on TV, that doesn't mean you don't have to learn mathematics today. You can't just drop out of high school, without knowing your math, or understanding probability, or some of the higher math that goes along with card games if you want to play at that level and win. I am reminded of a young man who was at Starbucks talking to his friends one day a few months ago, I was overhearing their conversation, and he said;
"I am Going to be a Professional Poker Player Like on TV, I Don't Need to Learn Math."
Although I didn't interrupt their conversation at the time, there is something I wish I would've told that young man. You see, if he really believes that he can play professional poker like they do want TV, then I'd suggest that he watches out for the kid from MIT. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this, stay in school, and study your mathematics, because if you're going to play professional poker, you're going to need to know it.
Indeed, playing poker requires a lot of skill in reading people, looking for micro-expressions, and studying how your opponents play, and I'd like to add understanding a little math, and not just counting cards my friend. Not long ago, I was watching a poker game on TV, and I forget where it was, probably Las Vegas, and it was supposedly the grand-national championship or something of that nature. The prize for the winner would be in the neighborhood of ten million dollars, so it wasn't a small tournament.
As I was watching one of the players, they made a terrible error, apparently they were not counting the cards, or working his mathematics properly as he was placing his bets, in either case, his bluff was challenged, and he lost his hand, and was forced out of the match. I thought to myself what a silly mistake, especially for a championship poker player, who was able to get that far. There are some really simple probability math problems you can do in your head, which would have prevented that ignorant move.
It seems rather ridiculous for him to challenge the odds in the fashion he did, in fact, he was challenging nearly impossible odds because all but one of the cards of that type had already been played, yes, they were playing with multiple decks, but "all but one of the cards of that type had been played" - it would be next to impossible, read; highly improbable for him to get the card he needed, so not only were the odds stacked against him, his probability was down to almost zero percent.
Okay so the moral of the story here, just because you think you were going to be a professional poker player when you grow up like those folks on TV, that doesn't mean you don't have to learn mathematics today. You can't just drop out of high school, without knowing your math, or understanding probability, or some of the higher math that goes along with card games if you want to play at that level and win. I am reminded of a young man who was at Starbucks talking to his friends one day a few months ago, I was overhearing their conversation, and he said;
"I am Going to be a Professional Poker Player Like on TV, I Don't Need to Learn Math."
Although I didn't interrupt their conversation at the time, there is something I wish I would've told that young man. You see, if he really believes that he can play professional poker like they do want TV, then I'd suggest that he watches out for the kid from MIT. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this, stay in school, and study your mathematics, because if you're going to play professional poker, you're going to need to know it.
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