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POT ODDS - THE CONCEPT OF POT ODDS EXPLAINED
Pot odds are the odds you get when calculating the current size of the pot versus your next call or bet. Pot Odds help you make important call, raise or fold decisions.
Example 1: There is $200 in the pot and a final $10 bet is coming to you. You are looking to fill in your 4 card flush. Do you elect to call? Based on needing one of four suits, the short cut math is 1:4 chances or 25%.
Winning consistently is about beating Pot Odds and not over betting. If your Card Odds are 25% (you have four hearts and need another to win) and you only need to bet 5% of the present pot ($10 as a percentage of the $200) to see the last card, you are in great shape. Based on Pot Odds for this hand you could go as high as 25% of the pot based on your odds to pull a heart on the river.
Example 2: You are in a $5/$10 Holdem game with Jack-Ten in the hole and one opponent left on the turn.
You have an outside or in poker lingo open-ended straight draw with a board of 2-5-9-Q, and only the river card left to make your straight.
Any 8 or any King will complete this straight for you, so you have 8 outs (four 8's and 4 K's left in the deck) and 46 unseen cards left.
8/46 gives you a 6:1 chance or a 17% chance of getting the win. Your opponent bets $10.
6/1 = 17% Pot Odds
If you take a $10 bet you could win $100. Your bet is then 10% of the final pot. The 10% bet is smaller than the 17% odds, so you are in good shape from an investment point of view.
Whenever your call or bet (in this case 10% of the pot) is smaller than your odds of getting the winning hand (17%) You are buying the next card at the right prize, or think of it as if getting a discount. The key is looking at the odds of a winning hand, not building a part of a winning hand.
Too many beginners are only apt to play good cards and just toss bad ones into the muck - which means they are playing too tight Or if they have the prospect of straight or a flush - they will just draw and draw with little consideration to anything else.
This is why once you hit Top Pair or better on the flop and you put a beginner on a draw, value bet him to death for he will pay any prize not considering the odds.
Unless you have the NUTS (nuts = the very best possible hand) every time there is always an amount of risk involved when you put your money in the pot. In the heat of the battle you may not always have time to get out your calculator and do the number crunching.
You can look at Pot Odds in a much simpler way - just ask yourself if there is enough money in the pot to justify the risk?
If there is a big pot - unless you just know you are beat, or it simply costs too much too call (which means your pot odds may not be so great after it's all said and done) - try to get some action. Even if you knew you were a long shot - would you bet $25 or $50 on a chance to win $500 or $1000 or more? While you may be a long shot - it's not a bad bet if there is a reasonable chance you could win.
On the flip side, and this is important, you may have a decent hand - and it may even be the winner, (use your
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