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Pot Odds
Calculating Pot Odds in Poker
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The concept of pot odds can be the most confusing part of strategy to a beginner. For some reason, when beginning players start to
see mathematics used in poker, they get scared. Knowledge of mathematics, however, is a necessity for anyone who wishes to play effectively
at all. If you know your percentages - if you know your chances - you can take luck almost completely out of the equation, and make
better judgements with your hands. Bad poker players like to gamble. Great poker players take gambling out of the game.
The ability
to calculate pot odds in a poker game is a key skill needed by any player who wishes to be successful at what they do. Good poker
players know that if the cost of playing offsets the reward, there is no reason to play the hand. Pot odds help players decipher this
reward:risk ratio.
Pot odds, put simply, are the relationship, expressed as a ratio, between the size of your bet, and the number
of bets of equivalent value already in the pot. For example, if there is already 15$ in the pot, and you need to make a 3$ call to
stay in, your pot odds are 5:1.
Unbeknownst to many, the calculations of pots odds and how they can help you don’t involve a
lot of math skills. A little addition and division, and you’ll have your answer.
Before you can do anything, though, you need
to know how many outs you have. Outs are the number of cards that will help your hand, and possibly make it into a winning one. For
our example, we’ll work under the premise that you’re on a straight draw.
Let’s say, for example’s sake, you hold J, Q in your
hand. 10, 9, 2 show on the flop. How many outs do you have?
You have eight outs - four kings and four eights. Right now, there
are 47 unknown cards - 52 minus your two hole cards and the three cards that were flopped. Out of those 47, eight cards will complete
your straight. So, basically, you’re odds of hitting the cards you need are 39:8, or, roughly, 4.8:1. What does this tell you, though?
Now
is when you begin to consider pot odds. Generally, you want to have better pot odds than your chance of winning the hand. That is
how most conservative players will play. Others, depending on the type of player, may call with worse odds, but you have to decide
how much you’re willing to risk.
In this case, though, you’d want to call on a pot that is 4.8x the size of your bet, or higher.
This means that the risk, in the end, could be worth the reward.
In poker, when you’re deciding if you should call a bet or
not, you always want to be sure the risk is worth the reward. Great players take the gambling part out of poker. They know what they
have, they know what they could have, and they know what the chances are of them getting it. Be smart. If the odds are against you,
don’t waste your money. Make the right decision, and watch it pay off in the long run.
