Poker Pot Odds

"Pot odds" is a concept from the world of poker. It refers to comparing the size of the pot with the size of the bet you must make to stay in the pot. When the comparison is properly made, the pot odds give you a clear indication of the practicality of calling a bet.

Many players find the math daunting. They prefer to rely on their gut feelings. These players usually lose. Reading your opponents is also an important skill to develop but knowing how to evaluate a pot will save you money as you correctly fold some hands.

Outs 

Before we define and explain pot odds we must understand the concept of outs in poker. An out is a card that will likely give you a winning hand. If you have four spades, an unpaired heart is not an out. It may very well be totally useless. If you have four spades, you are playing for a flush, so you have nine outs.

It is important to understand that you cannot project outs beyond the next card. If you have three spades after the flop, you have 10 cards that can help you on the turn but, only if you get a spade on the turn, can you say that you have 9 outs on the river.

A simple example

Let's say you are playing hold 'em. After the flop you have four spades. So far you have seen only five cards so, for the purpose of analyzing the pot odds, there are 47 outstanding cards. Of those 47 cards, 9 can help you. They are your outs. The odds of bettering your hand to a flush are 47/9 or about 5-1. If the pot is not at least five times bigger than the bet you must make to stay in the game, then the pot odds clearly indicate folding. You could stay in and win this hand but, in the long run, staying in with unfavorable pot odds is a losing proposition. You will not get lucky often enough to justify staying in the hand so you will lose money.

The different games of poker

There are games where you see few cards. Hold 'em is one. In draw poker you see only your own cards. The pot odds reflect this.

Let's say you are playing five-card draw. You are dealt a high pair. You expect to draw three cards hoping to get trips. There are 47 cards that you haven't seen. It would appear that this example is the same as the example given above. However, in hold 'em there are blinds. So there is already a substantial pot on the first round of betting.

In draw poker the pot is initially formed by the antes. If the antes are relatively small and the allowed high bet is relatively high, you will often be faced with negative pot odds. In these situations, you may decide to rely on other indicators along with pot odds to decide your course of action.

Paying attention

The opposite side of the coin is games where you see many cards. Seven-card stud is a perfect example. You may be able to try for several different hands at the same time. Many of your opponents have folded and their cards have been turned over. If you don't remember the cards you saw that have been folded, you will surely miscalculate the pot odds. When you miscalculate in this kind of situation, you will always be giving yourself better pot odds than you have in reality. This is a clear prescription for losing money.

Conclusion

Pot odds is an invaluable tool for helping you choose the correct course of action in poker. It is important not to underestimate pot odds; the pot odds often give a clear indication as to your best play. But using pot odds is not foolproof. You may decide to stay in a hand based on the pot odds when you really have very little chance of winning. You also have to be able to evaluate your hand using other tools such as your opponent's tendencies.