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Poker Pot Odds And Implied Pot Odds

When speaking with a new poker player, I'm often asked “What are pot odds in poker?”  Pot odds is the relation between the amount of money in the pot, and the bet you need to make to stay in the hand.  Remembering pot odds is not difficult.  Put simply, if there is $100 in the pot, and you need to call a $10 bet to stay in the hand, your pot odds are 10 to 1.  Put another way, for one bet risked your potential gain is 10 bets.  Or, if everyone folds to you immediately, for $10 risked you will win $100.  When calculating pot odds all you do is divide the amount of money in the pot, by the bet you need to place to stay in the hand.  

Implied pot odds are the extra bets you can expect to make in addition to what’s in the pot at that specific time.  For instance you see the flop along with 5 other players.  You're the second to act and there is $12 in the pot.  You need to call a $1 bet to stay in the hand.  Your pot odds are 12 to 1.  $12/$1 = 12.  Depending on what type of players you’re up against and how the board looks, you may be able to forecast future bets into the equation.  If you’re in a very loose game with several calling stations you can expect to gain at least a couple more bets.  Let’s say you’re confident that at least 2 of the remaining 4 players yet to act will call a bet. You would then add $2 dollars into the equation (one extra bet per person).  You pot odds including implied odds equation now looks like this.  $14/1 = 14 to 1.  Be conservative when adding implied odds into your estimates.  You must be very certain that the extra bets will in fact be put in the pot or you’ll be relying upon faulty information when deciding your play on that hand. 

Sometimes beginners use implied pot odds to justify staying in a hand they should not.  For instance you’re playing $1/2.  You hold 6 5 and the flop is Q 4 3.  You have an open ended straight draw which has 8 outs (4 outs for the 7 and 4 outs for the 2).  Your draw odds for improving are 5 to 1.  Normally you’d see this hand through to the river, but unfortunately you’re playing in an extremely tight game.  Only two other players saw the flop.  The first player bets and the second player folds, you’re the last player to act with $3.50 in the pot.  You must call a $1 bet to stay in the hand.  At this time your pot odds are only 3.5 to 1.  Playing heads up on a draw is often not profitable.  In this example you don’t have the pot odds to continue.  You would need to have pot odds higher than 5 to 1 in order for it to be profitable for you to continue.  Some players would say “Well 3.5 to 1 is awful close to being good enough to call, I’m sure with implied odds thrown it’s ok to call the bet.”  That’s bad logic.  On the turn the bets will increase, further decreasing your pot odds.  And against one player you can’t be certain of anything.  The correct play is to fold the hand.  Be more inclined to fold a hand when the pot is small.

Figuring out pot odds by itself is very easy.  If you’re conservative enough and smart about it, adding implied odds into the mix can help you to continue in a hand you normally would have folded.  Remembering pot odds can add to your long term profits by quite a bit.  Just be sure not to get carried away by insisting that future bets are there when they may not be.

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