Poker

Last week I talked about knowing your pot odds. The reason to know them is so that you can price your bets correctly. And, even more importantly, so that you can moan about bad beats in full mathematical detail. That will make you very popular in the bar.

One big aim of the game is to induce your opponents to call when they're getting the wrong price. You can see how the professionals do it in the current series of Late Night Poker on Channel 4: on-screen graphics tell you the pot size and each bet size as it happens, allowing you to study the maths of the game alongside the psychology. During tomorrow night's show, you can watch a perfect bet being made.

Danish pro Rene Mouritsen raises to 175 with ♠A♠Q and Devilfish calls from the button with ♦A♦9. Joe Beevers finds KK in the big blind, and re-raises to 550. This should be enough to make Devilfish pass, but both opponents call.

The flop comes ♠K♣7♠4, and Beevers bets 550 into 1,675. Mouritsen is 3/1 to win the hand, and being offered 4/1 odds - but Beevers doesn't yet know what the Dane is holding, and wants to induce an all-in move. In fact, Mouritsen wisely flat-calls and Devilfish folds.

The turn comes ♣A. Beevers bets 2,025 into 2,775, and this is the perfect bet. Mouritsen is now 4/1 to win the hand, being offered only a little over 2/1. Not only does the Dane call, he moves all-in for 1,575 more, making his price even worse.

Beevers' turn bet is flawless technical poker. He has induced a big mathematical error from his opponent, which is all you can do at this game. After that you are in the hands of fate. The river card in this case comes, of course, ♠5.