Hi i have been playing for a while and i feel in order to improve my game and go to the next level i need to use maths more in my decision making procces so can somebody please answer what maths is needed

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, for the most part.

For a more serious take, maybe you could check out QTip's book, "Poker Math that Matters".

For a start using the rule of 2 & 4 is a good start

This is for each out you have there is a 2 % chance you will hit it on the next card.

Say for example you hold 87

The flop is A 4's 2

There is nine 's left in the deck that will complete your flush.

You will have roughly 18 % (9*2) chance to hit your flush on the turn, or 36% (9*4) chance to hit it by the river.

Say the pot is 1 $, and there is a guy who bets 10 c. on the flop

Here you should always call (Or raise, but that is another story) because it cost you 10 c. to win a pot of 1.10 c. where you win it 18 % of the time, but it only cost you 9 % of the pot to call and see if you hit the flush on the turn.

So in this example you are winning over the long term, even if you dont hit your flush.

I wish people would just STOP with this "rule of 2 and 4" ridiculousness.

There is only 1 rule. It's the rule of 2. It says to multiply your outs by 2 for each card to come to get a percentage of how often you draw to your outs. The reason for that (and the reason it's an approximation) is because a percentage is over 100, there are 52 cards in the deck, and 100 divided by 52 is approximately 2.

Rule of 2: 4 outs, 2 cards to come: 4 * 2 * 2 = 16% (reality: 17%)
Rule of 2: 4 outs, 1 card to come: 4 * 1 * 2 = 8% (reality: 8.7%)

And here's why saying "rule of 2 & 4" is ridic: What if you have a pocket pair and want to know the approx. chances of making a set on the flop? Oh ****, the "rule of 2 & 4" doesn't apply, what do I do!!!

Or, if you actually know the real rule of 2:

2 outs, 3 cards to come on the flop: 2 * 3 * 2 = 12% (reality: 11.76%)

So please, let's put our thinking caps on and use the rule of 2 to its fullest extent instead of artificially limiting it to the turn and river only.

statistics imo.

http://www.amazon.ca/Statistics-Unpl.../dp/0495090778

that book gives a nice conceptual introduction, the problems in the back are fine... and for 16 bucks i'm sure a used copy will be +EV for any ambitious poker player.

But the rule of 2 and 4 doesnt apply to preflop its only for chances on turn and river. So the arguement of chances to hit a set on the flop dont apply here.

Neither topology nor differential geometry will be of much help to a poker player.

You're wasting your time, from a poker point of view, if you are studying differential equations.

Complex analysis is rarely used in poker. When was the last time Sklansky solved a contour integral, anyway?

I could go on for quite a while....

This one got me. I can't think of one single occasion where complex analysis would be useful in poker!

If you start looking into GTO then you will come across a lot of statistics and some differential calculus. For this you are better served reading Chen in MoP than Sklansky.

However this has almost nothing to do with OP - learn very basic probability (ie work out how to calculate basic odds) and you will be fine.

But there are spots where its the rule of 4 we should go by.

When you are deciding to push or call and AI bet on the flop you can use the rule of 4.

Also the rule of 2 & 4 are for postflop play. for preflop play we dont calculate our chances of hitting the flop, because we already have this knowledge memorized in our brain.

Knowing simple stuff like what is the chance to hit a set, a pair, 2 pairs, flushdraw and such things should be basic knowledge for any poker player.