One of the first and also most important concepts that a beginner poker player must master is the art of calculating pot odds and implied odds. Not only must all successful poker players be able to calculate pot odds but they must also be able to make these calculations in their head while they are in the middle of a hand.
This article will discuss how to calculate pot odds, their relation to implied odds, and how to use these two concepts at the poker table.
What are Pot Odds?
We define pot odds as: The ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of calling a bet or raise. The most common way players use pot odds is when making the decision on whether to call to hit a draw on either the flop or the turn. Additionally, players use pot odds to determine how often they need to win to make a call correct on the river after their opponent has bet. We will go into more detail on both of these important uses of pot odds later on in the article..
How to calculate Pot Odds ?
In our definition of pot odds, we pointed out two basic factors that go into our ratio: The size of the pot and the cost of calling the bet. To determine the size of the pot, we must add not only the money in the pot from previous streets but also the size of our opponent's bet. To make the calculation even easier, the size of our opponent's bet is also the 2nd part of our ratio as the cost of calling.
To display pot odds correctly we have several options and each one has no benefit over the other. Use whichever method you prefer to display pot odds but we believe you should be familiar with each method. The three methods to display pot odds are: 1) A Colon (:), 2) A Dash (-), or 3) The word "to."
Below is an example of how to calculate pot odds:
Let's say our opponent has bet $15 into a $20 pot on the turn. To calculate the pot odds, we first must determine the size of the pot and in our example the size of the pot would be $35 ($20 + $15). Our opponent's bet size of $15 is also our cost of calling and thus our pot odds are:
Option 1: $35:$15 or 7:2 or 3.5:1
Option 2: $35 - $15 or 7 - 2 or 3.5-1
Option 3: $35 to $15 or 7 to 2 or 3.5 to 1
Notice that we always reduce this to as low as possible.
How to convert Pot Odds into a percentage
Several players require the additional need to convert the newly acquire pot odds and turn them into a percentage. Why? Many players memorize the profitability of draws based on percentages rather than pot odds needed. With one card to come on the turn, a flush draw is only 9/46 or 19.57% to hit on the river. Assuming we win 100% when we hit, in order for us to make a correct call our pot odds must be less than that percentage to make the call profitable.
To convert the pot odds of 3.5 to 1 a percentage, simply divide the 2nd number of our ratio by the first number. Thus, we would perform the following calculation: 1/3.5 which equals 28.57%. Using pot odds alone to make our call, we would not be able to profitably call the turn bet with only a flush draw getting 3.5:1.
Using Implied Odds to influence decision making
 Poker players must not rely solely on pot odds to make a decision but must also use implied odds in addition to pot odds. We define implied odds as the ratio of the remaining effective stack to the cost of calling a bet or raise.
The implied odds ratio also has two factors: The size of the effective stack remaining as well as the cost of calling the bet. In other words, the implied odds take into account the money you could win on the following street in addition to the money already in the pot. The effective stack is the maximum amount any player may wager based on the stacks of players still involved in a hand. For example, if my chip stack is $40 and my opponent only has $25, then the most that either of us can wager during the hand is $25--this is our effective stack.
Implied Odds: The money you could win on the following street in addition to the money already in the pot
An example of how to calculate Implied Odds
In our same example above, let's say that starting stacks at the beginning of the hand were each $100. On the turn, our opponent's $15 bet will leave him with $75 remaining in his stack; thus the implied odds would be $75:$15 or 5 to 1.
Combining Pot Odds and Implied Odds
To make the most profitable decisions, players must combine both the implied odds and the pot odds when calling to hit a draw. If we had a flush draw as described in our example above, then we would combine the 3.5 to 1 pot odds with our implied odds of 5 to 1 to have total odds of 8.5 to 1. Thus, while we will only hit our draw 19.57% of the time, we only have to win 11.76% (1/8.5) in order for our call to be profitable, assuming we get his entire stack when we hit our flush.
 Relying Too Much On Implied Odds Is Dangerous
We must never rely too much on implied odds to influence our decision as it is too difficult to predict when or if our opponent will oblige us with the rest of his stack when we hit our hand. As we get into more advanced strategy, we base our decision on the likelihood of getting paid on the river depending on what our opponent has. The implied odds could be whatever our value bet would be if we do hit or it could be based on the percent likelihood we get our opponents stack.
Because of the uncertainty involved in implied odds, we must use caution when calculating them and to not go overboard. However, pot odds are always 100% certain and relying on them to make a call will always be correct, regardless of your implied odds.
Read other articles from our Advanced Poker Strategy section.
Posted by M.B |
