Poker Math - Pot odds and implied odds It does not matter whether you are playing poker online or in your local card room knowing your basic odds and poker math will greatly improve your game. The pot odds and implied odds are great tools to use when you determine the correct action in a certain situation. You don’t have to do the math at the table, but understanding poker math will help you to make more well-founded decisions. Pot odds The pot odds in poker refer to the ratio between the current pot size and the size of the intended call.

If the pot for example contains $200 and it costs $20 to call, the pot odds are 200 to 20 or 10 to 1 for the call. To see if it is correct to call the pot odds have to be compared to the odds of improving your hand and winning the pot. If the odds of winning the hand are better than the pot odds it is correct to call. Example: There is $45 in the pot and it costs $15 to call, your pot odds are 3 to 1. You have an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw on the turn, and if they hit you will most likely win the pot. The odds to hit your draw are 2.1 to 1, which mean that you have odds on your draw by a good margin. (The odds tell you that making this call will be profitable in the long run.) Implied odds The implied odds take estimated future betting into consideration.

This means that it can be correct to call even if the odds of hitting your hand are worse than the pot odds. Let’s say you have an open ended straight draw. The pot odds to call are not good enough to justify your call, but you are almost sure that you will win additional bets if you hit your hand and if you miss, you will fold. This changes the odds and might make it correct to call against the pot odds. Because the value of the pot increases with the expected future bets. Implied odds are usually higher when you call on the flop than the turn, because you have more chances to win extra bets if your hand hits.

As mentioned earlier you don’t have to do the odds calculations in real time at the table, but for online players, poker stats can be of great help. Implied odds are an important concept to understand. But be careful, don’t calculate your implied odds too liberally or you risk loosing more than you will gain.