- In order to use poker maths effectively, a poker player combines the context of the situation with the odds at hand. It also allows one to manipulate the pot odds and enforce errors on the part of your opponents. This is a key skill requirement for winning poker. Let’s look at an example of how pot odds could be used for important decision.
- Poker has a lot of mathematical elementsbut pot odds are the most important. A solid understanding of pot odds will allow you to play draws better, go all-in preflop & postflop, and handle a wide range of decisions with ease. In this video I will show you what pot odds are and how to use them using both a preflop and postflop example.
- Pot Odds are simply the price that the pot is giving us to call right now, based on how much it is to stay in the pot and how much the pot will be after calling.
So, the pot odds are 25%. Poker Pot Odds Example Using the Percentage Method. This can be a bit mathematical but an easy hack to learn the odds quickly is available right after the example. So, have some patience and continue reading Let’s review the example without looking at the hole cards to find the odds percentage.
Explanation and Calculating Pot Odds
Poker Pot Odds Chart
When first learning the game of poker, it is in the best interest of a player to study and learn as many different basic strategies as possible. Strategies such as starting hands, position, betting, poker outs and pot odds are the first strategies a player should learn, as it will save them the most money and help put a buffer on their learning curve. Out of all of these strategies, pot odds will be one of the most important tools a player will learn how to use. And the reasoning for this is, is because this tool can be combined with the knowledge of counting outs and expected value so that a player can make an educated play that is based on the likelihood of them catching one of their outs verses how much they will pay to try and do so. So, what are pot odds? Well, in a nutshell pot odds is the amount of money that is currently in the pot in comparison to how much a player will have to pay to potentially win that pot. To put this into perspective, a few different examples have been provided below.
Examples of Calculating Pot Odds
For this example Player A, Player B, Player C, and Player D have all just been dealt cards in a $100/$200 Texas Hold’em ring game with Player A on the small blind and Player B on the big blind. Player C decides to fold, Player D limps in for $200, Player A calls for $100 more and Player B checks his option. There is a total of $600 in the pot and 3 players are going to see a flop. After seeing the flop Player A and Player B both decide to check their hands. Player C thinks for a moment and decides to put in a minimum bet of $200. Now, this is where most players will need to use the knowledge of pot odds. There is a total of $800 in the pot, $600 from pre-flop and the $200 from Player C and now Player A needs to decide if to make the call or not. What are the pot odds offering him? As we said above, pot odds are the money in the pot in comparison to what it takes to win the pot. So in this case, the pot odds look like this:
- $800 in the pot to $200 to call
To make things easier, it is much better to simplify the odds. So this would actually be simplified to 4 to 1. After calculating the pot odds, Player A decides to make the call. Now there is $1,000 in the pot and it is Player B’s turn to call. What are his odds?
- $1,000 in the pot to $200 to call
Pot Odds Poker Strategy Explained
And again, this is better simplified which would equal 5 to 1.