Introduction to Poker Theory

MIT 15.S50 Poker Theory and Analysis, IAP 2015
Instructor: Kevin Desmond

An overview of the course requirements, expectations, software used for tournaments, advanced techniques, and some basics tools and concepts for the class are discussed in this lecture.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

[Catcrumbs]

If you're not interested in role playing as a college student, you can skip to 17:00.

[royalflush]

It's so funny how all these negative comments 6 years ago have proven to be wrong. This guy's teaching was ahead of his time. Gto poker is all about the math . The math guys crush today's tournaments

[iPROxIAMROCK]

This is quite possibly the best class I’ve ever watched on opencourse 😂

[samhermano]

The main takeaways that I got are:
1. Poker is often a waiting game,
2. Online poker is totally different from live (probably the same for the types of poker),
3. We should play based on how many chips we have compared to our opponents (betting more loosely more when losing),
4. There are poker personalities tight/loose + aggressive/passive, and
5. Some people play tight or loose ranges based on how many rounds they can survive when folding right away (M number; betting more loosely when losing).

I find the terms passive and tight to be, at first, hard to differentiate. Doesn't it kind of sound like a passive player doesn't raise much? I'm pretty sure passive players just choose what their bet is based on their own situation which can lead to some big calls, whereas tight means they only bet if they have a really good hand (like maybe tight players hate the humiliation of times when making big raises against someone and then lose because it's less humiliating to just fold earlier). The M number calculation is a passive strategy and playing ranges based off of how many chips an opponent has is aggressive even though, if you're winning, you might play tight (and fold early).

[murmaider]

Nothing like going to a 45 grand a year best in the world engineering school to learn to play cards.

[charleshan]

this seems like such a dope class to take

[RoadieC]

He seems like a better player than teacher. He's all over the place.

[zentrading]

I’m actually experiencing FOMO watching this! I wouldn’t make the student debt for it though, but really appreciated the voice in my head saying “YouTube poker class”

[jackdavis]

I love the fact this class is online, but a lecturer @ MIT should not keep saying "like" every minute.

[elltrlolz]

"effective M is... is your M divided by aaaahm...you multiply by how short stack your table or how short handed your table is "

[AintS]

It's applying the process to something that people can interact with to understand analytical data.

On the other hand, if you get good at poker through the course... who's to say that you can play your way through an expensive college.

It's just like chess, but each move will cost you a lot sooner than later. I'd prefer the poker in regards to chess.

[Mike-zjzj]

"Honestly, like, this league is going to be really cool."

Thanks MIT!

[GodDamnit]

Keep these coming please! Especially the advance stuff!

[adammilat-meyer]

excellent work... almost makes me wish i was a beginner again.

[GitanoRenegado]

The way to play against tight aggressive is by not letting them flop until they give in

[decarlocalloway]

As a Poker Player, it's hilarious to see this as a college course. 22:45 is key.

[stevenrowland]

“So you’ll hear people talk about like ‘Oh I had ten big blinds’ or fifteen big blinds or whatever to talk about their chip stack but that has the fundamental problem of...um...it...it has a lot of different problems. One is it doesn’t, um, it doesn’t tell the story of...so blinds - so the usual blind levels are one/two or two/four where the big blind is just twice the small blind...so that’s just like the assumption. But if you’re at a blind level that’s at, like, one/three and then like..or three/five the number of big blinds you have is not indicative of...of...anything. It’s not indicative of, like, how many hands you can see or how much you care about winning a pot pre flop. So using big blinds is bad. In addition to, once you start having like..if you’re fifty/a hundred blinds and you have an ante of, like twenty-five, like you, like, have basically half the stack that you had before in realistic terms.”

They're the actual words that come out of his actual mouth at around 25:40 onward.

[DJVasiliGR]

i have been playing cards since i was a little kid (specifically omaha)- i wish i had this class at my college

[paulgibbons-keynotespeaker]

With all the amazing content out there - having something this elementary with someone so underqualified is remarkable for MIT.

[MotoCzar]

16:01 begins actually discussing poker