Poker Pot Odds Explained for begginers

Pot Odds Explained

If you’ve ever played poker at a live casino, you’ve probably been in a situation where a player is facing a bet in a big pot and he throws in his chips with resignation, explaining: “I’ve got odds.” Does he have odds? What does this mean? What this player is referring to, correctly or not, is the concept of pot odds, which is a concept that one must understand to play poker successfully.

Understanding Pot Odds

The pot odds are the odds the pot is laying you to try to win it. It is a ratio of the amount of money in the pot to the amount of the bet you are facing. In other words, someone has just bet $20 and it is your turn. There is $120 in the pot. This represents 6-to-1 pot odds. You are betting $20 to win $120, which is 120-to-20 or 6-to-1. It’s as simple as that.

Why Pot Odds Are Important

In any gambling situation, you are facing odds. If you are favored to win the bet, you are giving odds, if, as is more common, you are an underdog to win the bet, you are getting odds. In a casino game, you can be sure that in most cases, the odds of you winning the bet are much worse than the odds the casino is offering you. If a casino wager pays off at 10-to-1, your true odds of winning are probably 11-to-1 or worse. The pot odds are like the rate at which the casino pays off, only in poker, the odds aren’t necessarily against you.

Using Pot Odds

To find out if the odds are in your favor, compare the pot odds to your true odds of winning the hand. If you are drawing to an open ended straight that you are confident will be the winner, you are about 5-to-1 to win the hand with one card to come. If the pot is offering you 6-to-1, the odds are with you and you should call. While you won’t win every time you are getting the right odds, you can expect to be a long term winner if you always make these kinds of plays.

Was this helpful? 0 0 Comments

You're reading Poker Pot Odds Explained for begginers .