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Texas Hold'em. I know there are probably plenty of experts here but after decades avoiding it, I'm getting into it because I found a group of friends that playe

Texas Hold'em. I know there are probably plenty of experts here but after decades avoiding it, I'm getting into it because I found a group of friends that played online. I first discovered that there are tables (and tables and tables) of preflop card combinations that tell you whether to raise/call/fold based off of where you are in the dealing order and how many players are active. Then I learn that's basically derived from monte carlo simulations, to calculate your chance of winning at any given moment (equity). It seems that it's probably more accurate to make your decision based off of equity and pot odds, i.e. Kelly Criterion. If I can get fast enough at estimating that in my head. Also having fun trying to find open source libraries to do those simulations so I can create my own drilling exercises. Honestly, I'm having more fun doing that stuff than playing it. The biggest dumbest problem is when blinds accelerate to the point that the minimum bet is greater than what Kelly would recommend. Some online poker sites are aggressive about this, to the point that you are forced to make irrational choices pretty quickly or get blinded out. A way to juice the house advantage I guess. It's almost enough to make me give up and find the next project.

brcmthrowaway 2y ago
Did you write an algorithmic betting software?
- tunesmith 2y ago
  Nah. When playing solitaire I just use a Kelly calculator. I plug in estimated equity and pot odds, and get a recommendation of what percentage of my stack to bet. It's just to get a sense of how to make riskier bets when the pot is large.
cabbageears 2y ago
>The biggest dumbest problem is when blinds accelerate to the point that the minimum bet is greater than what Kelly would recommend. Some online poker sites are aggressive about this, to the point that you are forced to make irrational choices pretty quickly or get blinded out. A way to juice the house advantage I guess. It's almost enough to make me give up and find the next project. The house does not have an advantage with poker. With player games, they earn money from hosting by taking vig(orish). But rapidly rising blinds in tournament poker is a way for them to get more games played, hence introducing turbos in tournament poker and Zone-type cash games. Better understanding common betting patterns is more useful than hand simulators or whatever. Being able to accurately update your opponent's range throughout the hand is essentially how to play well.

brcmthrowaway 2y ago

Did you write an algorithmic betting software?

tunesmith 2y ago
Nah. When playing solitaire I just use a Kelly calculator. I plug in estimated equity and pot odds, and get a recommendation of what percentage of my stack to bet. It's just to get a sense of how to make riskier bets when the pot is large.

cabbageears 2y ago

>The biggest dumbest problem is when blinds accelerate to the point that the minimum bet is greater than what Kelly would recommend. Some online poker sites are aggressive about this, to the point that you are forced to make irrational choices pretty quickly or get blinded out. A way to juice the house advantage I guess. It's almost enough to make me give up and find the next project. The house does not have an advantage with poker. With player games, they earn money from hosting by taking vig(orish). But rapidly rising blinds in tournament poker is a way for them to get more games played, hence introducing turbos in tournament poker and Zone-type cash games. Better understanding common betting patterns is more useful than hand simulators or whatever. Being able to accurately update your opponent's range throughout the hand is essentially how to play well.