How to calculate odds?? Help please...

[cayouche]

Let me explain.

Calculating odds for a hand played heads-up is easy, but what about when it's played by n-players, where n is 3 or more??

I know there's many calculators online, including a pretty good one here, but understanding how to do the calculations is part of a project me and a friend have.

Is there anyone that can help me by either explaining or redirect me so I could understand more the maths behind all this??

Thanks in advance.

[shorn7]

Please be more specific. Best thing might be to give an example of a situation that you are trying to figure out and we can go from there.

[cayouche]

I don't need to be more specific, because it's not for a specific hand.

I just want to know the general way to calculate odds in a n-way hand. Let me rephrase, I would like to know how this one (TH-P) works. I know it's probably done by iterations, but what is the algorithm??

Thanks guys.

[Sean_in_NJ]

I'm going to suggest this is a more generalized math problem that few of us here, if any, would actually be able to answer satisfactorily. I'd recommend you do some research into Monte Carlo simulations since there's really no other way to tackle these problems efficiently.

[tame_deuces]

The most common way is the Monte Carlo method. It is a very generalized theme where you use random numbers and probabilities for simulating real life events containing alot of uncertainties (like poker hands).

If you google for the monte carlo method and computers, I'm sure you can find examples of how to implement in. You'll probably even find its use in poker/gambling simulations explained.

[tame_deuces]

I'm going to suggest this is a more generalized math problem that few of us here, if any, would actually be able to answer satisfactorily. I'd recommend you do some research into Monte Carlo simulations since there's really no other way to tackle these problems efficiently.

Photo finish!

[cayouche]

I know Monte Carlo (actually, I was a few minutes from the casinos last October, but I didn't have time to visit), but I'm not an expert. Would that be by playing the same hands for say 1,000,000 times (probably even more) and see which one wins most??

[tame_deuces]

Yeah, you pretty much just run a bunch of hands with random outcomes and if you run enough the odds given are close to the real thing.

The important bit is making it random enough.

[cayouche]

Well, I'll do some research like you've said, thanks. I did use Monte Carlo back at university, in a small program to calculate Pi, at 15 digits precision. Fairly easy. We used a RNG, I think it was 16-bit (not sure, it's been 7-8 years), so it's like 32768 different possibilities.

Anyway...

How come the one here (TH-P) is so fast?? Is it because it uses a db for the results, so it doesn't do the calculations over and over??

[Adamm]

Our calculator is deterministic, so no Monte Carlo simulations are done. We have a database of some of the answers, like all heads-up preflop hands, but not every possible situation. If we made a database of all possible answers, it would take longer to process because the db would be so damn big.

I have no idea how it works though. The math behind it is too powerful for a low-level wizard like myself.

[cayouche]

Thanks Adam.

I noticed it was powered in part by pokersource. Their source code is free I believe. I'll try and see if I can find answers there.