How to calculate potodds?

I have been playing poker for awhile now and i often play with the gut and i think about what the other player could call with and if they are loose or tight players and so on.

I want to know how to calculate odds so i can put some arguments behind my decision and so on.

Can someone tell me about it and maybe give some exampels?

The best thing you can do is read something by Sklansky, but I'll give you a brief rundown.

A flush draw normally has 9 outs with 45 cards left in the deck. This means for every card in the deck that will help you, 5 will not. Describing that as odds, it's 5-1 against you hitting the flush, so you need better odds then that from the pot in order to show a profit. If the pot is $100, and someone bets $20, it would cost you $20 to chase your draw with a $120 pot, which is 6-1 on your money. For every $1 you have to put in, there is another $6 already in the pot. So you will show a profit by making that call.

To make a flush or straight draw fold you need to bet more then 1/4 of the pot. 1/3 to 1/2 of the pot is good for giving draws the wrong odds to push on. I think Fonz did a more detailed guide, but those are the basics.

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So i have to count the odds of me getting a good hand like and then i have to get better potodds by making the call?

So where can i find Fonz guide?

EDIT:i found it : http://www.texasholdemforums.com/odds/pot_odds.php

Summary for those who get confused by lots of words

if you want to call then.....

if the odds you get from "amount in pot" / "amount to call" is greater than or equal to your odds of winning then call.


But think ahead too. A lot of people lose more than they need to on draws because they call a big raise on the flop 'cos "they have two cards to come" which gives them a good chance of hitting. They totally forget that the big raiser is most likely to hit them with an even bigger raise on the turn which, if they haven't already hit, is going to force them to fold because they are way behind on the pot odds. The moral being that on the flop you shouldn't rely on getting to see both of the cards to come when there is a big raiser in the hand, you should calculate the odds on the basis of seeing only one card, this should encourage you to fold more and hence lose less.

Yeh count your outs DJ.

You can estimate your odds of hitting a hand in a fairly simple way.
Multiply your outs by 4 after you see the flop, or you can
multiply you outs by 2 after you see the turn.

The above will give you a rough idea of your odds of making the hand.

Let's say that with the river card to come, you have 9 outs (a flush draw)
9 outs x 2 = 18
You are around 18% to make your flush on the fall of the next card
(this is a rough way of working it out- the actual odds are 19.6% I think)
So, roughly, 18 times in 100 you will make your flush. This is a little better than 4 to 1 odds.
If the pot offers you 4 to 1 or better you are getting correct odds to make the call.
(In the above example, after the flop: 9 outs x 4 = 36, 36% to make the flush on the next to cards, about 2 to 1)

In some hands of course you might be able to guess- that if you make your hand- the eventual size of the pot that you win will make your call justified. This is known as implied odds.

You play regularly I believe and are probably weighing up pot sizes and your chances of making hands. You likely doing much the same as we all do but without the numbers in your head ie using pot odds and implied pot odds maybe without realising it.

It's good to count know you outs on every hand you play. After a while it becomes natural and it's not something you really do consciously. I'm certainly no mathematician but even when I do make mistakes, I'll be pretty close to knowing roughly what my outs and pot-odds are.

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If i want to calculate odds very fast, can't i just go with the potodds, not the odds of hitting flush and so?

Like if the pot is $100 and someone bets $20 i get 6:1 to the pot. So i could call that very easily if im chasing straight or almost anything.

yeh you can do that...say the pot is offering you 3 or 4 to 1 though, it's helpful to know your outs and chances of hitting.

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May/June '07
....Team:7 Black Balls
.... Sunday Lge Team Champs

Nov/Dec '07
....Team: 7Balls
....Sunday Lge Team Champs
....Sunday Lge Individual RunnerUp

Jan/Feb '08
....Sunday Lge Individual RunerUp

June/July '08
....Midweek League
....Winner

The quickest way i was taught to do it was count your outs double it and add 1 this will get you very near the true % of your odds of the card your needing coming out next.

I find pot odds a different subject were as i would maybe call with a marginal hand which if i used the odds from my outs looks like a bad call but im getting maybe 4/1 or 5/1 if i hit it the right card.

I would mainly use the first one were i know the odds are higher of me getting my card mixed in with small dose of the 2nd one were i know im getting good value for my outlay.


As you said DJUCKET $100pot with $20 bet into it your getting 6/1 to call
If you make the same call 5 times and hit it only once you still make $20 if its only showndown each time. This is not counting any other bets into pot after that call.

Some people will say you would be losing money because those other times you already had money of the $100 in the pot each time. But this money in the pot is actually nobodies at the time of the bet. I actually call it dead money because its no ones till all betting finishes.

Raymond

yes ofcourse but you know most of the times how many outs you have so if you need to calculate fast you could only count the potodds ot the odds of hitting, i think i've got a hold of it now. Going to work my 50 at partypoker.