Poker means Rich in Variables

Posted by Colin Edelman Mar 11, 2007

When a fellow poker player begins to describe one of their hand’s, I try to visualize it, but there always seems to be a lack of information. Example:

Fellow Player: “Okay so I was playing at the Taj and I’m dealt Queen Jack. Everyone calls…”

Me: “What time was it?”

F.P. “It was 2 a.m., right when everyone starts to loosen up. So anyway, everyone calls…”

Me: “How many players were at the table?”

F.P.: “Oh, 7 at that point.”

Me: “What was your position at the table?”

And it goes on. The number of drunken players, who has how many chips, if their spouse is standing behind them: all of it matters. Specifically, every player at the table has a hand history that plays into every decision you make during the game.

Will you know what to do even with all that information? Not always, but it certainly helps.

The amount of variables in the game is the cause of much heart break, anger, and ATM transactions.

In order to limit the number of variables, players often calculate odds. Again, this helps, but every player has heard at least a handful of stories when the odds kicked them in the face. Cardplayer.com has a helpful odds calculator, but unfortunately only provides situations up to five players.

For a few situations in which odds and other factors come into play, check out this week’s article.