pot odds?

ok, ive been playing online since last July now and have figured out pretty much a lot about poker, and done fairly well (up about 3100 since then), anyway one thing i havent been able to figure out is pot odds. How are they calculated, and how should i factor pot odds into my play?

Thanks for whoever can be of assistance

Pot odds are really hard to explain, especially to a new player. Heck I am still trying to figure out the exact details on them and I've been playing of almost 2 years now.

One thing before trying to use potts odds to play, I would reccomend that you first learn the actual odds of hiting your hands, ie.... 4 suits to a flush on the flop = 50% chance to hit your flush by river, if you miss on the turn card then those odds drop to somewhere around 20-30%.

Now with that said, I will use the flush odds there to explain pot odds and how i use them.

Say sb/bb is 10/20. you have a full 9 player table call the big blind with no preflop raise. pot is now 180.

you flop 4 to a flush and have 20 in the pot. 60% of the pot.

someone bets 20 on the flop, and you have 5 callers and its your turn to act.

there is now 280 in the pot and if you now call you have a 320 pot and 40 or yours in there. 8% of the pot. you have a 50% shot to hit and your getting 280 chips for 40 (the amount you would have in the pot if you called.) thats a 7:1 for your money or 14% difference. you have 50% chance to hit your flush. Making the call there would be good since your payoff is actually way higher than your odds to hit your "winning hand".

now there is 320 in the pot and you miss your flush on the turn card. Odds now down to 30%.

someone bets 680, noone calls and its your turn to act. Pot is now 900.

if you call you would have 720 in the pot for a 1680 pot. 720 chips for 960 or a making your payoff a little over 3:1 (75%) you odds are only 30% to hit. since your payoff is lower than your odds to hit your flush its not worth the call. Hence pot odds are not in your favor to justify a call. You would have needed at least 2 more calls on that.

I hope this helps a little. Math may be a little off, but you can get the idea.

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4 suits to a flush on the flop = about 1/3 not 1/2

4 to a flush with 2 cards to come is 1.86/1 (35%) ...with 1 card to come is 4.11/1 (19%)

When you are figuring pot odds...you do not cacullate the money that you already have in the pot...that money does not belong to you anymore. You only caculate the amount of the call vs the amount in the pot...without including the amount of your anticipated call.

The pot odds have to be greater than the hand odds to make the correct call.

However you also have to take into consideration that if you do hit...do you win? If your high flush card is a Ten and an opponent also has a flush and you feel that the opponent will have the "nut" flush...then fold

You cannot overlook the fact that you can still lose even if you hit...look that board over carefully looking what the "nut" hand would be and review in your mind the action up to this point as to what your opponents might have.
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Some learn by reading…..Some learn by observation…….while others have too pee on the electric fence for themselves

And if you're going to use pot odds, you need to be confident of them since calculating them improperly can lead you to bad decisions.

e.g. if you're counting all the money you've put in instead of just the next bet (as is proper), you'll be too conservative.

If you think that hitting a flush on next two cards is a 50/50 proposition, instead of a little better than 2:1 (35%), or on the next card is 30% instead of correct 4.2:1 (19%), then you'll be too aggressive.

Pot odds are the reason, btw, that it's often correct to call in Limit Poker to see the turn or the river, PROVIDED, (As Crapshoot says), that when you catch your card you're going to be the winner.

But hell... you say you've won $3100? Don't listen to us... keep doing what you're doing! (:-)

theres a few sites that u can calculate odds if yur playing online but in person, its how many outs the person has left divided into how many possible outs the person culd have had in the deck

yea as asabear say's $3,100 up...your way of figuring out pot odds is fine with us.

If you are of a mathematical disposition then look at my 2 posts under memebr guides. If not you are going to memorise some tables. You should know what % chance you have after counting outs and then either calculating or remembering what that relates to with 1 or 2 cards to come.

Then just multiply that % by pot if you call. If this is more than you have if you fold then calling is generally wise. Implied odds are key though. You can legitimately call 1/10th of your chip stack on a double belly buster straight draw because if you make it you will probably get a lot more chips than what is already in the post. You might not have the kind of brain that can do that but if you are winning anyway - DONT WORRY. Still if you can master pot odds it will probably improve your winnings a little bit.

another example is if the pot has $1000 in it and your oppponent just bets $100, you should call with almost anything since your getting 10:1 on your money.