Poker Pot Odds - Guide for Determination

Poker pot odds are the percentage or proportion of the current pot to the cost of a call. In other words, in playing poker, you would like to determine the chance of winning to help you decide to call or raise a bet. Knowing your pot odds helps you know if you are on the brink of winning or losing. By using pot odds, you can decide whether to call or fold considering the size of the pot, when, for instance, you are on a flush or straight draw. In Texas hold’em, you can calculate pot odds by either the ratio or the percentage method.

Ratio Method of Calculating the Odds

Ratio method is the most commonly used method in working out pot odds, and if you are determined to learn about it, it is ideal to start with the ratio method. To illustrate how to calculate pot odds in Texas hold’em, say for instance you are holding ace of clubs and queen of diamonds and the flops are king of clubs, queen of clubs and 6 of clubs. If the first player bets one dollar, and two players call, and another two fold to have a total of 9 dollars. If it is now your turn, you have to decide to call, fold or raise. You can assume that one of the others holds a king and that your hand must be better in order for you to win. The next thing for you to think of is the number of unseen cards can help you to win. These are your “outs.” At this point, you must count all the cards that can help you, thus, all the unseen cards.

Since you have two queens, you must think that if either of the other queens hit, it can improve your hand and make you the winner. There are also three other aces that can improve your card. This results to five outs . If any club hits, it can give you ace high flush that results to nine more outs. Your total outs is 14 and 47 unseen cards since you are holding 5 cards. By having this number, you can correlate 14 out of 47 cards can come and improve your hand, and 33 of which couldn’t help you. The odds then can be 2.4 to 1. 2.4 is acquired by seeing how many times 14 can divide into the 33 cards. If you are able to convert ratios to percentage then it will be easier for you to work with it.

Pot odds at first may be difficult to calculate. But as you continue to play poker, you’ll get used to the process and find it simpler than when you first encountered it. Pot odds are seriously learned by players who want to have more assurance of their winning and not just base it on intuitions and luck. Knowing the pot odds doesn’t just help you decide to fold or call, but also tell you how much to bet in order to protect your hand.