How To Work Out Pot Odds In Texas Holdem

Most of us have a basic understanding of what pot odds mean. They describe the amount we are risking compared with the size of the pot, which is currently the amount we stand to win. What many players neglect is how to actually use pot odds as an in-game thought process. As many poker decisions are close choices between whether to make an investment or not, a slight change in pot odds can dramatically affect the expected value of making a certain call. In the short-term, this swing may not be huge, but after you have played thousands of hands of that nature, the effect will be massive.

Facing River Bets

How To Work Out Pot Odds In Texas Holdem Texas Hold Em

The simplest place to start with pot odds is where there are no other complicating factors present in the situation. On the river, if we choose to call a bet in a heads-up pot, there are no future streets and no further actions by either player. This means that our decision is pure. We will always get back exactly what is in the pot when we win; no more and no less. Therefore, we can use the following simple formula to work out well we need to do to call and break-even. Pot odds in this case refer directly to our equity. We shall call this break-even percentage that we need to call our required equity.

How To Figure Out Pot Odds In Texas Holdem

Required Equity = Amount Risked / (Total Pot After Villain’s Bet + Amount Risked)

  • What are Pot Odds? In Texas Hold’em poker, pot odds specifically refer to the ratio between the size of the pot, or the amount of money on the table, and the size of your opponent’s bet. You use this ratio to determine whether to call a bet. Example: There’s already $40 in the pot and your opponent bets $10. That puts a total of $50 in.
  • Pot odds = pot size:amount to call where pot size includes any and all bets on the current street (pre-flop, flop, turn or river) as well as the amount in the middle. The final sum is expressed as a ratio. Pot odds example. The pot is £400 and there is a £200 bet in front of you. You would follow the steps below to determine your pot odds.
  • Calculating Pot Odds in Texas Holdem. Poker, as with any form of gambling, has an element of luck involved. As winning poker players it is our goal to minimize luck as much as possible, striving to bet aggressively when we are ahead and fold our cards when we are behind.

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How To Work Out Pot Odds In Texas Holdemds In Texas Hold Em

Villain bets 40 into 60 on the river and we think about whether to call with what appears to be a bluff catcher, meaning a hand that does not beat Villain’s value-bets but will always win against a bluff. The first step is to calculate our required equity:

How To Work Out Pot Odds In Texas Holdempot Odds In Texas Hold Em

Required Equity = 40 / (100 + 40) = 28.5%