Hello guys ,

At this moment I 'm reading SS Holde'm and I 'm wondering how you guys use all those concepts they explain while playing your game.
For example: they say don't overvalue or undervalue your hand counting to many or to less outs. How do you count your outs the right way, at the same time count the pot and calculate your odds in those short time. And don't forget thinking about table image and your opponent image and your own for your postflop play etcetera, etcetera. At this moment , after reading this book , I don't feel I'm intelligent enough for this game , to use all of this concepts in a split second. I think, if you don't have a clue of all of these tactics why deposite any money and be a longterm loser, pretty negative EV isn't it. Also I wasn't such a mathstudent during my collegayears, okay I understand roughly about odds and outs, but if it the math gets deeper than that I feel terrible. I am so determined to learn this game and okay I didn't post a lot here on this forum, but most of your posts I read. Do I have to through the towl in the ring and give up the idea to be a good player? How do you guys handle with these things?

Thanks for listening(from a desperate player )

Poker is indeed an extremely complex game, both in general sense and from mathematical (game theoretic) perspective. This game has not been solved yet (e.g. there is no computer algorithm that can beat human players consistently, even though quite successful ones exist for heads up limit holdem - search for Polaris). Having said this, there is no reason to think the game is not beatable. Many posters on this forum are proven winners.
How do winners process a ton of inormation that effect their decision in a short time? Well, I guess many hands become "standard" after a few (or maybe a few tens of) thousands hand you played. So they don't require thought at all for these players. Some hands require off-line analysis such they become no brainers once you encounter similar situation again. I don't think it takes to be a math genius to beat poker, but understanding of basic probability concepts and its application on poker is absolutely required, IMO (applications like pot odds - effective, implied, reverse, etc', understanding of what is random experiment, expected value, variance, etc'). Follow bankroll management rules, post hands, use tracking software so you can analyze your results / search for leaks. Doing this is the right path. There is no "silver bullet", nothing will turn you into a winner but hard work and consistent strive to improve.

Poker is a pretty tough game to learn, but not because of any complex math involved with every decision, or that the fundamental concepts are that hard to master. It's complexity lies in the fact that most decisions are variable and depend on unknown data.

So, the skills necessary to become a good poker player can be split into 2 areas, those involving what you can know(pot odds, equity, and what tactics to use when pot odds and/or equity is in your favor) and those skills involving what you can never know(your opponents' cards, how they will play when they hold a particular hand)

The first set of skills is developed by hitting the books, the latter by experience at the table. Both sets of skills can be greatly developed by studying hands away from the table using tools such as the pokerstove and this forum.

You don't have to be a math wiz to be a good poker player. It certainly helps, as the fewer math skills you have the steeper your learning curve will be.

Not every hand of poker you will play is unique, most play out and should be played similarly to others so the more time you spend studying the better you will be at each hand that comes along.

Thank you all for your explanation of how you guys think about the game,
I will certainly make use of all your experience until a big white light will pop up above my head

In the mean time I'm still having fun just playing the game, that's a big part what's also important isn't it.

Gl all