Poker Odds

The concept of pot odds is very significant when figuring opponents actions in poker. Pot odds inform about the relationship between the pot size compared to bet size.Learning how to work out pot odds is your mathematical solution to making a decision on whether to call or fold your hand. Playing pot odds implies knowing what your chances of pulling the card you need to make your hand a winner. You would find many strategy articles giving you advice on how to use Pot odds to determine whether to stay in a pot or to fold. It is never a bad idea to use Pot odds to decide how much to bet in pot-limit and no-limit games. So a player can successfully bet using Pot odds.

One of the concepts of poker that took some of us a long time to understand was the use of Implied Odds in our decision making. It really was not until we started playing Omaha Hi/Lo, where there are many more people in a typical hand as compared to Hold’em, that the term actually started to make sense. Understanding implied odds is then no less important.

How To Calculate Outs and Pot Odds
Deciding on whether the hand that you are trying to hit will win you the pot or not are equally significant. Computing ‘outs’ or the number of cards that could improve your hand and pot odds (ratio of money in the pot v/s the amount needed to make your next call) is often used as a basis be Texas Holdem players. Let’s take an example. If the current pot has $80, and the amount required at the next call is $20, the pot is laying you odds of $80 to $20 or 4 to 1.To the extent your odds of making the best hand are 4 to 1 or better, then making the call is the right move. A hand which is 4 to 1 means that you will hit once in every 5 tries. You would hit the draw 20 percent of the time.