Understanding Pot Odds in Online Texas Hold EmWhy understanding pot odds wins you more in online Texas Hold Em
If you're not playing with an awareness of pot odds, then you will certainly become a very popular player in your poker room of choice!
A knowledge of pot odds in online Texas Hold Em alone won't make you a World Series caliber payer, but if you're not using this simple calculation that tells you when to call and when to fold on a questionable hand, you'll never make as much money as you should.
Simply put, pot odds are the percentage chance you have of getting a winning card, compared to the percentage of the needed bet against the size of the pot. If you have a 20% chance of getting the card you need and your needed bet is only 10% of the size of the pot as a total, then over time, you're going to win money making this kind of play!
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The three kinds of hands, and when you need to calculate pot odds
There are three basic hand situations in Texas Hold Em.
Firstly you may get dealt a whole lot of nothing, and be very unlikely to turn that into anything of value even if you did call in. This is a clear fold situation.
The second situation occurs when you have a very strong hand, or a very likely possibility of getting "the nuts". In this situation, calling or even raising the pot is clearly the best choice.
The third, and most common situation, occurs when you have a drawable hand, which has some potential, but needs one more finishing card. In this situation, you need to calculate the pot odds. That is to calculate what your odds are of getting the card you need for a winning hand, compared to the ratio of your bet to the total size of the pot. For example, if you determine that you have a 1:4 chance of getting a needed card, and you are calling a 10$ bet into a 90$ pot--which is a 1:10 ratio--then the decision is easy, and you should bet. If your odds ratio of winning the hand are greater than your percentage addition to the pot, then you should bet.
In this situation, you will win the hand 25% of the time, so if for example you played this situation 4 times, you would win once. Your bets would total $40 and your pot winnings would be $100, and so you are well ahead.
If the situation were reversed, and you had a 1:10 chance of getting the winning card you need, and your $10 bet compared to the size of the pot is 1:4, then if you played this out over 10 hands, you would win once, winning $40, and bet $100 in the process, a major loss.
How to determine the pot odds
You will need to do some basic math to determine your pot odds, but if you're not playing with pot odds on your side, you're not likely winning much money.
To determine the odds of getting the card you need, you first need to divide the number of cards in the deck that will give you an out, compared to the total number of cards. If you are looking for a heart to complete your flush, and you can see that 4 hearts have already been shown, then you know that there are 9 more hearts in the deck that will give you the winning card. What you do is divide this number of winning cards in the deck by the total number of unshown cards, and you will get your odds of winning.
You have 2 cards and there are three cards down. Out of 52 cards in the deck, there are 47 remaining that you cannot see. You know that there are 9 cards out of that 47 that will give you the winning card you need, so you simply divide 9/47 to get your ratio of about 20%. When calculating the odds, disregard any cards in your opponents hands, these are not seen, and are simply calculated as a part of the total number of unseen cards.
If you have a 1:5 chance of winning, and you need to bet 10$, then as long as the pot is at $40 (with your addition the pot will become $50) the play is sensible. A pot over $40 makes the play a smart move, and less than $40 does not make sense.
If you need an ace for an out, and there is only one ace currently shown, then you know that there are three more aces unshown, and divide 3/47 to get a ratio of about 7% and as such your bet or call needs to be 7% or less the total size of the pot to make the bet or call a good idea. If your bet is $5 for a $100 pot then this is a good play (a 5% bet is less than the 7% odds of winning) but if you need to bet $10 for a $100 pot, then your percentage addition to the pot is greater than your percentage chance of winning, and as such it is a bad play.
Use pot odds to make more money
Smart players play the odds, and pot odds are of even greater importance when playing online poker. The internet game gives you less information about your opponents, and as such you need to play with the odds to increase your winnings. Pot odds are not the only factor to success, but they are about the biggest one.
Knowing when to call on a questionable hand is what separates the men from the boys, and the decision is almost always made after factoring in the pot odds.
Pot odds take a bit of practice, but within a few games, you'll be calculating your pot odds quickly and easily…and winning more money!
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Byron Badd, Gambling911.com
Originally published July 28, 2007 10:39 am ET
