David Sklansky, The Mathematician
David Sklansky is a notable professional poker player and one of the most prolific gambling book authors in the world today. He is a respected name in the gambling world, and he has co-authored and authored thirteen books on poker and gambling theory; published by Two Plus two Publishing. He has also contributed to the first edition of Doyle Brunson's "Super/System," one of the first serious strategy books written about poker.
Sklansky was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, on 1947. In 1966, he graduated from Teaneck High School, and attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He was not able to graduate though, as he left the university before the graduation itself. Afterwards, he returned to Teaneck New Jersey, and passed a number of exams by the Society of Actuaries. He worked for an actuarial firm until he left to become a professional poker player. He is quoted to have left his job as an actuary because "in poker, if you're better than anyone else, you make immediate money. If there's something I know about the game that the other person doesn't, and he's not willing to learn or can't understand, then I take his money."
He has admitted to cheating twice at poker on a Two Plus Two poker discussion forum, but has managed to win three World Series of Poker bracelets. In the 1982 World Series of Poker, he won two bracelets; the eight hundred dollar buy-in Mixed Doubles event where he garnered an eight thousand, eight hundred dollar cash prize, and the one thousand dollar Draw Hi event that had a fifteen thousand, five hundred dollar prize. In 1983, he won the bracelet for the one thousand dollar Limit Omaha Hi event. The cash prize for this event was twenty-five thousand, five hundred dollars. In a 2004 World Poker Tour invitational event, he won first place in Poker By The Book, against such poker heavyweights as Phil Hellmuth Jr. -who has won eleven World Series of Poker Bracelets- Mike Caro, Mike Sexton, T.J. Cloutier, and Doyle Brunson -one of the most influential names in poker today.
Out of the thirteen books he has authored and co-authored, "Theory of Poker" is considered the definitive primer on poker. Another one of his books, "Hold'em Poker," which was published in 1976, was one of the first widely available books on the subject of hold'em poker.
In the poker world, he is known as The Mathematician, because of his skill in calculating the expected values in a poker game.
