More on Poker Pot Odds
This was published 22-04-2010In a previous blog we have looked at the basic principles of pot odds in poker. Let’s now look at it in a bit more detail.
If you read the previous blog you would know that the pot odds was quite simple. It was as follows:
Let’s say there is seventy dollars in the pot and your poker opponent decides to move all in with his last ten dollars. It will therefore cost you ten bucks to call, after which you could win a total of eighty bucks. This will mean that your pot odds are 80 to 10, or 8 to 1, which is the same thing. Other ways of expressing the odds are 8:1 or 1:8. It does not matter in which order you write it or how your write it, as long as you know your story.
The decision that had to be made here was quite simple. The opposing player was all in so our decision would end the poker betting, no matter if we decided to call or fold.
If the opponent, however, had another $1 500 left, things would be very different. Pot odds are more complicated to calculate when there is more betting to follow. Your betting odds chances will still be eight to one as above but only if you are able to see both the river and turn card.
You might have to bet more money before the end of the hand. If you don’t win on the flop and your opponent places a big bet when the turn comes around, you will have to bet more if you want to win. This means that the pot odds have changed.
Although basic pot odds can be easy to calculate, it becomes more difficult as more factors are added to the equation. The most basic thing you have to remember is that if there is more betting to follow; you will not only have to calculate the direct pot odds but also factor in what is sure to happen later on.
Here is a poker odds term that you should remember. ‘Effective odds’ is when the pot odds are modified for later action (that must still follow). This will formulate what it will cost you in order to go home with the pot.
