In a limit hold'em game math plays huge over time, but in No Limit, it is a gamble. If all you do is play monsters then you will hardly ever make the money that is available. You have to be ready to get all your money in the middle and that is some times with the worst hand going in.

What do I mean by that...? Say you raised the pot...two callers come in, you are holding 6/7 suited. Flop comes 45A. You are now open ended with the potential of having the nut straight and since you raised the pot before, you will bet out even though you did not catch a pair or two. You are only open ended. Now, most of the time the other players are going to put you on a high hand so the A does scare them. So the bet on the flop will win you the pot most of the time.

What if someone plays back at you? Well here is the (Gamble)...do you know the player? Is he a rock? Is he lose? How has he been playing during the night , etc. Are you getting sufficient odds to call his bet or are you going to get all your money in the middle. ( Gamble ) If you raised and he is only bluffing at you then a big raise over the top will most likely get him to fold.
( Gamble ) What if he goes all in, now what? You either have to release the hand or ( Gamble ). Not knowing what he has and knowing that you are open ended you could be getting great odds for your all in call. You will win and you will lose. It is an aggressive play but if you are to win and I mean big, you are going to gamble....not stupidly gamble. You will have to study the math and the odds and then take the calculated (Gamble) that you will win.

( Gamble) That is the nature of poker and especially No Limit Hold em. Strong poker and strong players make the money and weak players who only play monsters can not and never will win over time. ( No Limit that is )

Statisics are only statistics...take craps for example . The dice each have 6 numbers 1 - 6. Let's use the 11 ( 65 ) . Statistically ( Mathematically ) the number eleven is supposed to show up every 16 times it is rolled. That is a true statement. So for every 16th roll I should bet on the 11. Bet 10 dollars and you win 150.00. Good for you and bad for the casino. Or is it? No because the casino knows that the dice could be rolled 100 times and the dice never show an eleven. Statistics show that every 16 rolls it should show up. So what happened? Well on roll 101 the dice rolled an 11, and then the next roll an 11 and then the next. and then three rolls later another 11. So statistically is is now catching up to the math.

And in Poker, over time with few mistakes, if you played only the hands you were supposed to and everyone else did the same, then yes, matematically you would win small or at least break even over time. But is that how you play? No, you play the person...no math there, you play position... no math there, and you play rushes... no math there and also you will bluff from time to time...no math there.

So to say that poker isn't a gamble you do not understand he nature of chance. Skalansky is one of the greats in Poker and I recommend his books. But if you only read him and study he math side of poker you probably can only make a living thru being a serious grinder at the poker table. Tough stuff. But most of us aren't grinders, we want to play. And win. So good luck and play some poker. Cheers.