Calculating Pot Odds

Pot Odds is one of the most basic and most often misunderstood poker concepts.  Pot odds are a way to compare bet sizes to the size of a pot. Counting pot odds is much simpler than it first appears, so read on for a quick lesson. And don't worry, there won't be much math.

Pot odds are a quick way to describe the size of the pot compared to the size of a bet you must call to stay in. For example, if someone bets $10 into a $20 pot, you have to call $10 to potentially win a $30 pot. The pot odds are 30:10 which reduces down to 3:1.

When you compare the pot odds to the odds of a draw hitting, you can quickly tell if it is profitable to call the bet. For example, a flush draw is about 4:1 to hit. If you had a flush draw in the above example, you would compare the pot odds (3:1) to the odds of the flush draw hitting (4:1).

Since the pot odds are lower than the odds of the flush draw hitting, you should not call this bet. In this case, the pot odds are not great enough to warrant a call. In the long run, it would cost you more money to chase this draw and miss than the few pots you do win could compensate for.

If instead the opponent had bet $2 into the $10 pot, your pot odds would be 12:2 which reduces to 6:1. Now it would be profitable to chase the flush draw because the pot odds of 6:1 are greater than the flush draw odds of 4:1. That's really all there is to the concept of pot odds. The easiest way to calculate the odds of certain draws hitting is to just memorize the odds of some of the more common draws.  Check out our Poker Strategy section for more tips and concepts after reading this article.

Counting Pot Odds In Poker

Here is a list to get you started:

• Flush Draw: 4:1
• Open Ended Straight Draw: 5:1
• Gutshot Straight Draw: 11:1
• Two Pair to a Full House: 11:1
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