A Beginners Guide on Calculating the Pot

When playing poker, being able to understand and act on the pot odds is a critical skill to becoming a winner. You must be able to take into consideration the pot odds when you are trying to determine if you will make a profit by drawing to a straight or a flush. This is a choice you will have to face many times during only one hand!

When you are in a poker game, you will come across this scenario quite often: The player you are up against has his hand made and is betting and you are in the pot and having nothing but one draw. When you draw, it means that what you have is four to a flush or to a straight. You are hoping that a card later on will make your hand a winning one. Learning how to calculate the odds and outs teaches you when you are able to profitability draw and when it is time to fold.

Calculating the pot odds may sound harder than it really is. But, with some practice and some basic match, you can master it pretty quickly. Keep reading for an example:

In this example we are using a limit hold’em game. Let’s say that you have K heart and an A heart on the button. It is folded towards you and you choose to raise $2. The game is $1/$2. The blinds, both small and big make the call and you go with a 3 handed flop of 3 heart, J spade and Q club. Now, the small blind makes a bet of $1 and it is called by the big blind. So, what are the odds for you? We start out by counting the bets. Before the flop can occur, at least three players must add in $2. 3X $2 equal $6. Once the flop comes the small blind bets one dollar and the big blind calls. $1+$1 equals $2. What you have now is the pre-flop part is $8. ($6+$2 equal $2) You must call one dollar in order to win a pot that contains 8 dollars. You get 8 to 1 odds when you call. So, how can you use this information to your benefit?

Once you have this information you can calculate your own outs. If you find that the other players have a pair of kings and a bad kicker, you will have six outs with the two over cards you have, plus four 10’s to make a straight for 10 outs. Next comes more easy mouth. You have seen 5 cards out of the entire deck of 52. That leaves 47 cards left. 10 of those cards will give you a hand that will win on a turn but 37 will not. This means that your odds of making your hand are 3.7 to 1. Easy right? For more information on poker strategy please visit http://www.poker.co.uk/poker-strategy/.