Syllabus. Statistics 19: Poker and Probability, Prof. Rick Paik Schoenberg.

Lectures: Mon 3pm, Math-Science 3915a.

Office hours: Mondays, 2-3pm, MS 8965.

email: frederic@stat.ucla.edu

Course webpage: http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~frederic/19/S06

This seminar will explore the fundamental concepts of elementary probability theory and statistics, which are useful in a very wide variety of scientific applications. Students will learn the basic foundations of probability, including the axioms of probability, the addition and multiplication rules, conditional probability, expected values, and combinatorics. In addition, we will discuss important statistical concepts such as the standard deviation, the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem, simulation, standard errors, and confidence intervals. All of these topics, which are broadly applicable in the sciences, will be motivated by examples of situations and concepts that arise naturally when playing Texas Hold'em, a game of strategy and chance whose complexity is surprising and whose popularity is rapidly increasing.