Pot Odds

By Wesley R. Young

The ability to determine, use and understand pot odds is one of the most underrated concepts for beginning poker players. Pot odds are calculations used while playing poker that put the concept of risk and reward into numbers. Here is an explanation of them and a chart to help you start using them in your game.

Whenever you are in a hand and need to decide whether or not to call a bet, count how many cards that are still unseen that can come on the turn and/or river that can help you. Then check the number on the chart below to get the pot odds. For example, you have A5s with two more of your suit on the flop. Therefore you have 9 outs to make the nut flush. Your odds of hitting it on the turn are 4.2 to 1 and to hit it on the turn or river 1.9 to 1. If you are only concerned about hitting it on the turn, the pot must have at least 4.2 times the amount you must place in the pot to make this a profitable call. If you are playing no-limit holdem and a player has moved all-in, if there is at least 1.9 times the amount you have to call in the pot it is a correct call and will be profitable in the long run. Pot odds are just a quick way of seeing if a bet will be profitable if you are in the same situation thousands of times.

This is a good time to point out something that is often confusing to beginning players when computing pot odds. The beginning player often says “I already have so much money in the pot” and thinks that this somehow goes into the computation of the pot odds. The fact of the matter is that any money already in the pot is not yours. It was yours before you put it in the pot, but the only way you will get it back is to win the pot. This is the reason that money you have already placed in the pot is not used in pot odds computation.

Number Of Outs	Turn	River	Turn & River Combined	Example
1	46-1	45-1	22.3-1
2	22.5-1	22-1	10.9-1
3	14.7-1	14.3-1	7-1
4	10.8-1	10.5-1	5.1-1	Gutshot Straight
5	8.4-1	8.2-1	3.9-1
6	6.8-1	6.7-1	3.2-1
7	5.7-1	5.6-1	2.6-1
8	4.9-1	4.8-1	2.2-1	Open End Straight
9	4.2-1	4.1-1	1.9-1	Flush
10	3.7-1	3.6-1	1.6-1
11	3.3-1	3.2-1	1.4-1
12	2.9-1	2.8-1	1.2-1
13	2.6-1	2.5-1	1.1-1
14	2.4-1	2.3-1	.95-1
15	2.1-1	2.1-1	.85-1	Flush & Straight
16	1.9-1	1.9-1	.75-1
17	1.8-1	1.7-1	.67-1
18	1.6-1	1.6-1	.60-1
19	1.5-1	1.4-1	.54-1
20	1.3-1	1.3-1	.48-1