Poker Odds - Overview
Poker Odds may seem a little complicated, but please stick with it because being able to quickly and accurately calculate Poker Odds at the table can be crucial to your long-term success as a poker player. You have to use mathematical probability as opposed to just using enthusiastic optimism, to make sure your actions in a poker game are profitable ones.
To use probability to evaluate the decision that's facing you, you need to calculate your Hand Equity and the Pot Odds, before comparing the two. It doesn't matter which order you use to work them out as they are independent of each other, but it's essential that you work out both your Hand Equity and the Pot Odds, because they are completely useless unless you compare one with the other.
Poker Odds - HAND EQUITY
In order to calculate your Hand Equity as clearly as possible, you need to
(1) Work out how many cards there are in the deck that are unknown to you in this hand,
(2) Work out how many of these available cards do not help you
(3) Work out how many of these available cards will help you to a winning hand
It's then (2) divided by (3) and you have your equity.
Easy isn't it? No! OK let me try and give you an example:
If you're playing a game of Texas Hold Em and after the fourth community card (the turn) you are drawing for a nut flush (the best flush possible).
(1) In this example there are 46 cards that are unknown to you, (52 cards in the deck minus your 2 hole cards and the 4 community cards you can see on the table.
(2) Of the 46 cards, 37 cards can't help you as they are the wrong suit.
(3) Of the 46 cards, 9 are the same suit as your flush draw
Based on this example your odds are 37 divided by 9, or simply put 4 to 1 against you making the flush.Once you have your Hand Equity, you need to calculate the Pot Odds, and then compare the two.
Poker Odds - POT ODDS
Your Pot Odds, simply explained, is the amount of money it costs you to call a bet compared to the total amount of money in the pot.
In the Texas Hold Em example above this means that you should only be calling a bet if there's already 4 times the bet amount already in the pot. What this means is that if you are playing a game of $1/$2 poker, then there needs to be at more than $8 already in the pot to justify calling the $2 bet to see the river card.
If the Pot Odds are greater than your equity, then you're likely to make money; if the Pot Odds are less, you'll more than likely be losing money.
These Poker Odds are valuable information that has to be taken on board and utilised when taking action in a poker game, ignoring or overlooking Poker Odds is one of the most common mistakes made by poker players of all levels. Whatever table you are playing your online poker at, you will always find someone making incorrect Poker Odds decisions or just being totally unaware of them, these players are always popular as they are slowly distributing their stack of chips to the the rest of the players at the table. Don't let that player be you!
