One of the most simple strategies successful poker players utilize when they player poker is calculating the pot odds every time they are faced with a big decision. The pot odds will help you determine whether or not it would be profitable over the long run to make a certain call. If you’re looking for a reason to justify calling a draw, then you need to calculate the pot odds and find out if it’s a profitable play.
For those of you who have no idea about how to calculate the pot odds, it’s actually really simple and anyone will be able to do the math. Let’s say that you’re playing on a $1/$2 no limit table and you have the nut flush draw after the flop. Now let’s say that there is $20 in the pot already and your opponent bet $4 into the pot. You now need to look at the odds of hitting your draw. In this example you know what 5 of the cards are in the deck which means there is still 47 cards you don’t have a clue about. Out of the 47 cards only 9 of them will make your flush which means you have about a 1:5 chance of hitting your flush on the turn. Since there is $20 in the pot already you would only want to call if your opponent is betting $4 or less. Since your opponent is betting $4 then you’re getting the correct pot odds to make the call.
Now if the turn hits the board and you didn’t hit your flush then you will need to re-calculate the pot odds again quickly. You now know what 6 of the cards are, so there are only 46 cards that you don’t know what they are. Out of the 46 cards, there are still 9 cards that will make your flush so you have about a 1:5 chance still. If your opponent bets $10 into the pot that currently has $28, then you would need roughly a 1 in 3 chance of hitting your flush to make the call profitable. Since you still only have a 1:5 chance of hitting your flush you are no longer getting the correct pots odds to make the call on your opponent.
Let’s look at, one more quick example, but this time we’ll say that you have an open ended straight draw instead of a flush. If after the turn you have an open ended straight draw then you need to do the following calculations to figure out the pot odds. Since you know what 6 of the cards are, there will be 46 that you don’t know. Out of those remaining cards there are 8 cards that can help you, so you have a little better then a 1:6 chance of hitting your straight. If there is $75 in the pot and your opponent bets $10 then you’re getting the right odds to call down to the river, but if your opponent bets $20 then you’re no longer getting the correct odds to make the call.
Calculating pot odds is really simple and once you get the hang of doing it every time you’re on a draw you’ll find that it becomes routine. Pot odds will show you whether or not you’re making the right play based on long term results and not short term. You might miss one or two big pots, but you might also save yourself from losing 5-6 bigger pots.