David Sklansky, author whose books fundamentally changed the way poker is thought about and played, has died. He was 78.

A mathematician who called himself the Wizard, Sklansky wrote books about poker and casino gambling. His “Theory of Poker” is still considered a foundation and gateway into advanced poker strategies, and is often listed by poker champions as seminal to their success.

Originally from New Jersey, Sklansky worked as an actuary after briefly attending the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Las Vegas in the early 70s where he soon established a reputation as a tough and consistent player at both the poker and blackjack tables.

How did he do it? While most players did use a rudimentary understanding of math and probabilities, Sklansky took it to another level and based his entire game on theories that could be written down and explained through equations and formulas.

He publish his first book, “Hold’em Poker,” in 1976. The first edition of “The Theory of Poker” was published in 1978 as “Winning Poker,” and it quickly become a sort of Bible for both new players and the old school grinders who knew right off the bat that the mathematician was on to something.

The version of the book with the yellow cover that most poker players know was published in 1987 and is still one of the best selling poker books. It joins almost two dozen other titles like “Small Stakes Hold’em,” “Poker and More,” and “Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players,” which he published after Doyle Brunson invited him to write the chapter on the game for “Super/System 2.”

He’s a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, but none of those came after 1983.

Sklansky interacted with poker players as an active moderator on the Two Plus Two forums. With nearly 18,000 posts that started in 2002, he found himself defending some of his questionable behaviors toward younger women.

In 2007, Sklansky took to the forum to defend himself against accusations that he was involved with a 16-year-old run-away while he was in his 50s. He admitted that the two had lived together for eight months and were “planning to stay together indefinitely,” claiming he and everyone who met her thought she was in her mid-20s.

He also confirmed what has been an open secret around the Las Vegas poker world about the type of women he preferred.

“The girls I like have to have an odd combination of traits, smart feisty, but the opposite of feminist and somewhat malleable,” he wrote.

He misspelled “malleable.”

According to sources like Matt Berkey, and Todd Wittles, he also played a role in the tragic story of Brandi Hawbaker, a young woman who briefly became a media darling in the mid-aughts thanks to some deep runs in events, a look that oozed sexuality, and a willingness to show a lot of skin.

Sklansky is accused of threatening her with disfigurement and encouraging her to end her life before the former stripper committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 26.

He was also arrested for but not charged with domestic battery in January of this year. The last thread he started on Two Plus Two was contemplating if President Donald Trump and the GOP’s pivot on the Epstein Files “was that big of a deal.”

He died of heart failure March 23, 2026.