Poker: Pot Odds

You have begun to take your first steps playing poker, even have gained some of the games, and you listen or read very rare terms and strangers for you as "pot odds". You don´t worry, you will learn slowly.

To calculate “pot odds” is simply to realise a quick estimate of the possibilities that you have to receive a good card and compare it with the bet which you must put in the pot to continue playing and the pot that you would take if you win the round.

The first that you must to do is calculate “outs”. The "outs" are the cards in the deck that can serve you. For example, if you have two cards with same suit  and in “flop” there are other two cards with the same suit that yours, you have a flush proyect. You begin the calculation: there are 13 cards in the deck of each suit and four of them you know where it is, therefore, are 9 cards (9 “outs”) that can serve to you. The probabilities that comes the card that you need are 9 against 47 (52 pack cards less 5, 2 yours and 3 in “flop”, without the cards of your rivals), that means, your possibilities are 5 (47/9) to 1.

Now you calculate the bet that you must put and compare it with the pot. Following with the example: there is a 100$ pot and you must put 10$ to continue in the round. That is to say, the benefit that you can obtain is 10 to 1.

When the possibility of receiving the card or cards that you need is better than the relation between the bet and pot you must follow, otherwise you should retire. In the previous example “pot odds” is clearly favorable, if instead 10$ you had to bet 50$ to continue, the gains are 2 to 1 and not a good idea you continue in the game.