1. How To Calculate Pot Odds In Texas Holdem
2. Calculating Pot Odds In Texas Holdem
3. Pot Odds In Texas Holdem
4. Texas Holdem Odds And Probabilities

In poker there are good bets and bad bets – the game is simply a way of determining who can tell the difference. This is where the concept of pot odds comes into play. Put simply, pot odds means is there enough in the pot to call a bet.

As for calculating your odds. Have faith in the tables, they are accurate and the math is correct. Memorize some of the common draws, such as knowing that a flush draw is 4-to-1 against or 20%. The reason this is easier is that it requires less work when calculating the. How to Calculate Pot Odds in Texas Holdem Poker. When faced with a drawing situation after the flop hits the board in Texas Hold’em, successful poker players will always calculate the pot odds to determine whether to continue playing the hand and seeing the turn and river cards.

The fundamental principle of playing a drawing hand in poker is that you need a pot big enough to call. When we have a flush draw or a straight draw we will make our hand on the next card almost 20% of the time (19% for flush and 17% for the straight draw). That is, 20% of the time we will make our desired hand and 80% we won’t. The ratio 20 to 80 can be expressed as odds of 4-to-1. Therefore, if the pot is $80 we can almost call a $20 bet to break-even. I say almost because we have to make a profit so, a call of $20 is appropriate when there is more than $80 in the pot.

Know the Odds

You should already know how to calculate odds based upon the number of “outs”. If you don’t know the odds of hitting certain common draws then please go back and study our previous lesson on calculating odds and outs in poker. For the benefit of this lesson we’ll include the handy chart below:

Table: Odds and outs from the flop and the turn to the river:

We have created a printable PDF version of the poker drawing odds chart (opens in a new window). You will need Adobe Acrobat on your computer to view it on screen. We recommend you print the chart and be sure to memorize these odds, particularly the common draws – as your time is better spent analyzing your opponents’ play rather than attempting to perform mathematical calculations in your head.

Track the Pot Size

Part of the concept of pot odds is to focus on the calculation of how to figure the odds of your hand becoming a winner. The other part of the equation is to know how much is actually in the pot in order to know what odds it is offering you.

If you’re playing poker online then the size of the pot should be in clear view at all times – simple! If you’re playing poker live then it’s as easy as paying attention and using basic arithmetic to know the pot size at every step of the way. All one needs to do is multiply the total amount bet on each street by the number of active players and add that sum to the blinds if they are not participating in the hand. Hold that total in your head and add the subsequent total of the next street’s betting and you will always have the pot total available to calculate your pot odds. Here are some critical words of advice: know what is in the pot at all times. How else can you make proper mathematical decisions?

Calculating the Pot Odds

At this stage you should know the odds of hitting your card(s) and the size of the pot. The next step is to know what odds the pot is offering you. The best way to teach you is to use an example hand. Take a look at figure 1, below:

How To Calculate Pot Odds In Texas Holdem

Figure 1

As you can see, we have 9 outs for the nut flush draw, so the odds of hitting our flush on the river are roughly 20% or 4-to-1 odds. There is $450 in the pot, and player 2 bets $150, which now makes the total pot $600. It’s going to cost us $150 to win $600. How do we calculate these figures to give us the pot odds? This is fairly simple as 600/150 = 4, so we have 4-to-1 odds for our money.

If we want to know the percentage then we add the bet (call amount) to the pot, to give us a total pot figure. In this example it would be: 150 + 600 = 750. Once we have this figure then we would have to perform the following formula: call amount / the total pot size. In our example this would be 150 / 750 = 0.2, or 20%.

Now we know the pot odds, should we call or not? In our example we can justify the call as we’re getting 4-to-1 pot odds and our odds of hitting and winning is also 4-to-1. But remember it’s a break-even call over the long term if we’re only counting the flush draw. Ideally we’d want the pot to be a little bigger or their bet to be a little smaller. However, if we believe that hitting either an Ace of King (giving us 6 additional outs) on the river would beat our opponent then we’d have more than enough odds to call the bet.

In poker, whenever the pot odds exceed the odds against making your hand, it pays to keep playing. When the odds against your hand coming in exceed the reward associated with it, it’s usually a bad deal. A simple way to think about this is as follows:

• When the prize exceeds the cost, you should call.
• If the cost is more than the money you figure to win, fold.

…did you know that AK flops a flush draw 11% of the time?

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Let’s look at another example:

Figure 2

Here we have a straight and a flush draw, meaning we have 15 possible outs. The odds of hitting one of our outs on the turn is 31.9% or 2.13-to-1. The pot contains $36 ($24 + $12) and it’ll cost us $12 to call.

Are we getting enough pot odds to call? Let’s do the figures, first in odds….$36 (total pot) / $12 (cost to call) = 3. Expressed as a ratio this would be 3-to-1 odds, meaning we’ll win once every 4 times. In percentage terms… the pot odds can be expressed as 25%. Our drawing odds are 31.9%. Since the pot is offering us better odds than our draw, we should call the $12 bet.

Let’s continue with this hand example. As you can see in figure 3, we didn’t hit on the turn, we check and our opponent then bets $60 into the existing $48 in the pot.

Figure 3

Are we still getting the correct pot odds to call in the hopes of hitting a straight or flush? The answer is no.

The pot odds are now 1.8-to-1 (108 / 60) or 35.7% in percentage terms. Our drawing odds are 2.07-to-1 or 32.6%. Since the pot odds are less than the odds of hitting, in this instance we should fold. To call a bet here we’d need the pot to be a little bigger or our opponents bet to be a little lower. He has priced us out with his overbet.

So, that old feeling we had, “There is a bunch of money in the pot, I call”, was and is a sound tactic. Now we know more precisely when it is profitable and when it is not profitable to go in on draws. Knowing pot odds does two things; it lets us concentrate on the other players and turns poker into a game of skill.

Make Your Opponents Pay

Let’s take a quick look at a situation when you’re the one with a made hand and you figure one or more of your opponents to be drawing. Understanding the concept of pot odds should help you to determine an appropriate bet size and charge your adversaries for their possible draws.

Imagine raising a bunch of limpers from late position, holding pocket Jacks. The big blind and the three of the original limpers all call your raise and the five of you watch a flop of :

You’ve hit middle set but there are both straight and flush draws staring at you along with four opponents. There is $86 in the pot and everyone checks to you. You are definitely going to make a continuation bet but you need to decide on how much. Allow me to provide a check list of criteria to think about that as you become more experienced will become so automatic as to not even require any conscious thought.

• Know the pot size – in this case $86.
• Acknowledge the texture of the flop and tendencies of your opponents in terms of potential threats to your holding. Limpers and callers are many times on draws.
• Know the odds to the potential draws the flop offers. In this case both flush and straight draws.
• Make a bet that will not offer the potential draws the correct odds.
• You should bet the size of the pot, $86, in order to make the odds being offered by the pot only 2-to-1 which would not be attractive odds for draws.

If it is true, and I believe it is, that the bulk of your poker profit comes from the mistakes of others rather than you own brilliant play, then identifying opponents that overpay to draw to their hands is critical information. Aside from just playing too many hands, one of the biggest and most expensive mistakes less experienced poker players commit is paying too high a price to try to make their draws. Ferret this information out by tracking the pot and watching showdowns and then you can determine how to manipulate the size of the pot against that opponent in a future hand.

Implied Odds

This is an extension of pot odds and represents the ratio of the total amount you expect to win if you complete your hand, to the amount you would need to call to continue. Put simply, you don’t have the correct odds to call, but if you reason that there’s a good chance that your opponent will bet again when you hit your draw, you might be getting the implied odds to call.

While implied odds are an important tool to be aware of, particularly in no limit hold’em, many less disciplined players abuse it by using it as a justification to chase draws that are not getting the proper pot odds. While pot odds can be calculated with total accuracy, calculating implied odds takes some guess work and knowledge of your opponents’ tendencies. It’s more of an art than a science.

Are your opponents mostly fish?

If yes, they tend to offer a lot of implied odds – but most players leave chips on the table by missing aggression AND using incorrect bet/raise sizes when they hit their hand.

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Tournament Play

Much of what has been offered so far is beneficial for both cash games and poker tournaments. But you should approach opponents in tournaments that are desperate a little differently. In a cash game, being pot committed doesn’t really come into play. The term pot committed simply refers to a player who has half or more of his chips already in the pot so if he loses this pot he is pretty much finished anyway. This player will be calling, not based upon the pot odds, but due to his predicament. Players calling in tournament play without the correct pot odds does not necessarily indicate poor play. Calling may well still represent their best chance mathematically to move forward in the tournament and make some money. Hence the expression, do or die!

The reverse situation relative to pot odds can also occur in tournament play. Imagine being in a situation wherein you have the correct pot odds to call but folding could be the better option to advance. An example of this type of phenomenon would be holding the nut flush draw with one card to come with two other opponents already all-in by a monster stack late in a poker tournament. The pot could be offering you greater than the odds required to make the call mathematically correct but the fact still remains that you will miss your flush 80% of the time. If you were on the bubble with the big stack bully already having two other players all-in and you knew you would only prevail in the hand 20 percent of time – I think a fold would be in order.

Many believe that pot odds aren’t nearly as important in tournament play. This is especially true in the lower stake “fast” events that are typical in both live and internet play. These players focus on the odds of their opponents’ calling based upon the size of chip stacks. While some of this is true, if you begin to ignore pot odds because you are in a poker tournament, you will begin to slide down a slippery slope. If you are planning to make a decision that is not in accordance with good pot odds play, you should have a very significant reason.

Calculating Pot Odds In Texas Holdem

Put in the Work

Pot Odds In Texas Holdem

Knowing what and how to use pot odds is essential if you wish to become a winning poker player. Learning how to use these concepts to your advantage can put you well ahead of a vast legion of players that are just too lazy to put in the work. They are playing on feel and their gut instincts and proud of it. I’m happy they’re proud of this approach because I know they can’t be proud of their bankrolls. These “proud” players are the assets you need in both cash games and tournaments. Let them be proud – you should put in the work – you’ll be glad you did as you’ll end up with their bankrolls.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.

Calculating pot odds is a basic skill that most poker players learn soon after they take up the game. Almost all introductory poker books feature a section on pot odds, but they don’t go into too much depth. The truth is that pot odds and equity calculations are at the heart of being a successful poker player and if you wanted to, you could write a book on the subject. In fact, Bill Chen did just that; his book The Mathematics of Poker doesn’t make for light reading though. In this article we’ll go a little beyond the basics of pot odds, but not far enough so that you’ll have to stop and get a PhD in math to continue half way through.

The Basics of Pot Odds

Poker is a game of betting, and all betting revolves around odds. If your opponent bets $100 into a $100 pot, then you have to put in $100 to call. This means you’re risking $100 to win $200, representing odds of 2/1. To figure out if a call is profitable, you need to convert the odds on offer to an implied chance of winning. To do this, you simply add the numerator (above the line, 2 in this case) and the denominator (below the line, 1 in this case) and put the denominator above the sum giving you 1/3, or a 33% chance. Taking another example, let’s say your opponent bets $30 into a $70 pot, meaning you must risk $30 to win $100, so your odds are 100/30. Following the same formula as last time, we end up with 30/130, an implied chance of 23%.

Texas Holdem Odds And Probabilities

So how does this relate to the cards in your hand? The gravest mistake that bad poker players make is continuing with their hand when the pot odds dictate that they should fold. Again, the easiest way to illustrate this is with an example:

Say you’re playing a tournament and you’re holding 7h8h and there are 5000 chips in the pot on the flop which reads AhTs2h and your opponent goes all in for 5,000 chips. When your opponent bets the size of the pot, we found out already that this gives you odds of 2/1 and you need a 33% chance of winning for you to justify continuing with the hand. If you’re certain than your opponent holds AK in this spot then you know that a flush will beat him if you make it.

If you know how to count outs and how the rule of 2 and 4 works, you’ll know that your flush draw has about a 36% chance of hitting on or before the river. The fact that your chances of winning are greater than the pot odds on offer means that a call will show a long term profit and that you can make it in this spot. In fact you can even calculate how many chips you’ll make from the call on average by adding the average chips gained when you hit, to the chips you lose when you miss. 36% of the time you’ll hit, and win 10,000 chips for a total of 3600, and 64% of the time you’ll lose 5000 chips for a total of -3200. The overall total gives you an expected value of +400 chips on average by making the call.

Let’s imagine the stack sizes are changed and your opponent surprises you by betting all-in for 10,000 chips on the flop. How does that change things? Now you’re risking 10,000 to win 15,000 giving you odds of 15/10 meaning that you need to win [10/(10+15)] = 40% of the time to break even. In this situation if you call, you’ll win 15,000 chips 36% of the time (5400), and you’ll lose 10,000 chips 64% of the time (-6400), so your expected value is now -1000 chips with this call.

In poker, you win when your opponent makes mathematical mistakes. If you bet a tiny amount relative to the size of the pot, you give your opponent very good pot odds and they can very often make a mathematically correct call. If you bet a bigger amount, they’ll generally not be getting the right price to call, and so if they do they’re making a mistake, which means a profit for you in the long run.

Implied Odds

In the examples we’ve discussed so far, the bets we’ve had to call have been all-in bets, and our pot odds calculations have been straightforward. Of course in deeper stacked cash games or early in tournaments, we’ll rarely be facing an all-in bet on the flop. Imagine you’re holding the same 7h 8h on a flop of AhTs2h in a $1/$2 cash game with stacks of $200 and $6 in the pot on the flop. Say your opponent bets $10, giving you odds of 16/10. If his bet was all-in, you’d need a 10/26 = 38% chance of winning the hand to call this bet. Your flush draw doesn’t quite make it, and so if his bet was all-in you should fold. However, with more money to into the pot, you can factor in money you could still possibly win before deciding whether to call or to fold. Let’s say you know this opponent will never fold AK and you’ll stack him if you hit your flush. Now when he bets $10, you’re really being offered his entire stack should you hit, so you need to call the $10 to prospectively win $200 plus the $6 in the pot meaning you’re getting odds of greater than 20/1. In this spot it’s clear that you should continue with your flush draw.

Let’s imagine that the turn comes down the 4d and your opponent bets $20 into the $26 pot, can you still continue. At this stage when implied odds are factored in, you’re being offered the $26 that was initially in the pot, plus his remaining $190 and you need to call $20 to see the river, representing odds of 216/20 or a little better than 10/1, meaning you need to win 9% of the time or more to show a profit.

With just one card to come, you have about an 18% chance of hitting your flush and so you can profitably call again.

Of course this is an extreme example, you can never be 100% sure that you’ll stack your opponent or that you’ll have the winning hand by the river. Even if you make your flush, your opponent could easily fold when you show a lot of strength or show down a higher flush or a full house, which brings us to the subject of reverse implied odds.

Reverese Implied Odds

Our examples above took into account the potential for winning money on later streets if we make our hand. However there are a number of situations in poker where we stand to lose out on money that goes into the pot on future streets. These are known as reverse implied odds situations. An example of reverse implied odds would be calling a re-raise from a tight player with a hand like KQ. If the player has a tight re-raising range then we’ll be put in a lot of difficult spots if we make a hand which we think could be good. For example if he has AK, then we’re in a reverse implied odds spot, as we’re likely to call him down if the flop comes King high, but we’re drawing very thin. Hands where you’re likely to be dominated if you make a pair represent the most common type of reverse implied odds situations.

The most costly scenarios are where you’re drawing to a strong hand but your opponent has a stronger draw, such as a better flush draw or the higher end of a straight. Reverse implied odds situations are particularly difficult to deal with when you’re out of position and will find it difficult to control the size of the pot.