Poker: Imaginary Money – Part 1

• 30.06.2025 3:11 pm
• headhunter
• 1 Comment

There are particular theories in poker that aid the game you play while others simply help in evaluating your overall play.

No theory is more significant, the first method of improving as a poker player is evaluating the hands they have played already to find out what sort of mistakes they did and where hey went wrong.

To become an outstanding poker player, you should be prepared to learn from every single mistake regardless of its size.

This article will describe one of the two ways that can help you successfully do that, it will help you in evaluation of the game is spent.

Sklansky Dollars

Incase you are no familiar with David Sklansky he is among the most respected minds in regard to mathematical poker. His poker books are among the very first and are still viewed as very important in this industry. He has become legendary, simply because the books have made the foundation for other players and also theorists in the field.

Among its concepts, there is a significant one known as the Sklanksy dollar. It is only effective for after game analysis, and it helps give invaluable hints in regard to the exact spots you made mistakes and how much they cost you.

This concept is very simple and also effective. Below is a simple example to help you know how it works:

After moving all in before flop for $ 100, then happen to get called by .

Pot: $200

Board:

In this case what you have lost to a suck-out is $100. Sklansky dollars work solely on statistical winning probability, ignoring the real results.

Hand equity when the cash went in:

– 83%

  – 17%

For this author's concept, the percentage of your equity equals that of the pot. This literally means 83% of this pot statistically belongs to you; hence your share is $163.

There is a single step yet, and we get the Sklansky dollars amount. This involves subtracting what you have invested for the specific choice you are evaluating from the pot. This means $163-$100 (what you invested into this pot) = $63.

It is true you lost $100, but in Sklansky dollars, you made $63.

It is a concept effective in evaluating in dollars how the action was profitable statistically. Over a hand sample that is long enough, the statistical profit you get gets to match the actual one.

(The duration of the sample is tricky, as the specific  math theory might require a huge sample size that in real sense might be difficult for any player to acquire in the whole of their playing career. This means irrespective of playing poker that is statistically outstanding; chances are high that you will just be an all time loser at poker)

Sklansky dollars: Example 2

Pot: $1,250

Board:

Your hand:

Opponent’s hand:

You decide to move all in $770, your final, and the rival thinks you are bluffing then calls you. A ten comes and the pot is gone.

To effectively calculate the Sklansky dollars, you have to get the hands equity when the cash went in. You have a chance of 86% of bagging the pot.

Total pot: $1,250 + $770 +$770 = $2,790

Almost each WSOP Main Event winner usually has a higher cash amount that cash earned in Sklansky.

Total Share: $2,790*86% = $2,399.40

Less investment: $2,399.40 – $770 = $1,629.40 Sklansky dollars

Here, a large pot has simply left your grip in real money, but there is a huge profit in Sklansky dollars. This almost reduces the sting of calling for fresh chips.

The concept can also work in the reverse- it is possible to use in calculating the amount of Sklansky dollars you ended up losing after playing badly. In still this hand, we can calculate your rivals Sklansky dollars:

Total pot: $1,250 + $770 +770 = $2,790

Total Share: $2,790*14% = $390.60

Less your investment: $390.60 – $770 = -$379.40 Sklansky dollars

It is true your rival bagged a pot equal to close to three grand, but in Sklansky dollars, he lost $379.40 after the final call. More Sklansky dollars could have been lost on his part if you evaluated your rival's play on flop. He could make little amount because of his slight pre-flop advantage.

As it is evident, Sklansky dollars are not going to help you make the correct play now, it's impossible (except in extremely rare scenarios) to put a given player on a concise single hand.

You have a duty to play solely versus ranges in the real poker world, but not single hands.

Phil Galford is known as OMGClayAiken online incorporated the ranges concept and not the single hand into the Sklansky dollars. He named the concept he came up with the "Galfound dollars" or in short G-bucks.

The second installment of this piece will be an explanation of G-bucks, their working mechanism and the specific way you can use them in evaluating your play afterwards, and also help you making the soundest decisions regarding your play.