Poker News

Mathematics of Poker hailed as decade's most important book

2007-09-10 15:44:50

A new book called The Mathematics of Poker has been described as the most important poker book to have been written in the last ten years.

Nick Christenson, writing in the September issue of Poker Player, said that The Mathematics of Poker, which aims to distil present general truths from complex issue of game theory, is an outstanding effort.

However, the book suffers from the fact that it is not an easy read and may only be suitable to a poker player than has a strong math background.

"I believe that The Mathematics of Poker is the most important book on poker written in the last decade, arguably the most important poker book of the last 25 years.

"Despite this, I believe that this book will help relatively few poker players and as such, its impact on the games played in most card rooms will be relatively minor."

But on balance, the book marks a "turning point" in poker literature, partly because it breaks new and important ground, said Mr Christenson.

The Mathematics of Poker is by Bill Chen, who has a PhD in mathematics and Jerrod Ankenman, a professional poker player.