Poker Strategy - Pot Odds

When you see a flop, you will generally be in one of three situations. First, your hand may totally miss the board. Example: you hold Qs Js. The board is Ad 8h 7h. You have nothing, so you should check and fold. The second option is that you hit the flop well and hold a strong hand. An example of this is if you hold As Ks and the board is Kd Jh 4s. In these situations, you should generally bet/raise.

The third possibility is that you currently do not hold a strong hand, but it is possible for you to make a strong hand if the turn or river brings you a good card. This situation is known as "drawing." An example is if you hold As Ks and the board is 4s 6s Jc. In this situation, a spade will make you a flush, and an ace or king will bring you top pair.

When you are drawing, there are several tools that will help you make your decisions. One important tool is "pot odds." Calculating pot odds is fairly simple. First, you must count the number of outs you have. An out is a card that will improve your hand. For example, if your hand is Qs Js, and the board is Kd 10h 7c, then your outs are 4 Aces and 4 Nines, or 8 outs total. To calculate your percentage of hitting an out on the next card, you take the # of outs times 2, then add 1. In the above situation with 8 outs, you have roughly a 17% chance of drawing successfully.

Once you figure out your chance of hitting a draw, you multiply it by the pot plus the bet to see what the maximum bet is that you can call.

For example, if the bet is $20 and the pot is $80, the bet plus the pot is $100.

Now let's say you have 6 outs (6 cards will help you). This means you have about a 13% chance of hitting. If the pot is $90 and you must call $10, you should call because you can call as long as you have at least a 10% chance to hit (10/100- the total pot is 90+10). However, if the bet to you was $20, you should fold, because that would require a 18.2% chance of hitting (20/110).