"Calculating
Poker Odds - The Easy Way!"
By Oddvar Pettersen
To be successful at poker you should, at any
time during the play of a hand, be able to calculate the odds
of catching your hand to the odds the pot is giving you.
Knowing the probability of making a specific
hand in poker can be done by calculating hand odds. Figuring out
how many outs you have will give you the possibility of calculating
the number of times you will hit your hand by the river.
Lets say your'e dealt A-9 of hearts in Texas
Hold'em and the flop comes up showing two hearts. Your hand odds
for hitting another heart by the river will be approximately 36%
or 3 to 1. (you will hit your hand 1 out of 3 times)
You can figure this out by first finding the
number of outs that you have. Outs are the number of cards remainig
in the deck ( not visibe to you) that can help you make your hand.
So if we are using the hand above as an example
and you hold A-9 of hearts and catch two hearts on the flop, than
you have 9 more hearts in the deck that can help you complete
your flush. 2 hearts in your hand + 2 hearts on the table minus
13 hearts in total = 9 outs.
If you multiply your number of outs by 4, than
you will get an approximate percentage of hitting your hand by
the river (9x4=36%).
Poker pot odds is the ratio between the size
of the pot compared to how much it will cost you to call a bet
from another player. The higher the ratio between the size of
the pot and the cost of calling a bet, the better your poker pot
odds are.
If there are $40 in the pot after the flop and
a player bets $10 and two other players calls his bet then you
are getting 7 to 1 in pot odds. If you are chasing the A-9 flush
draw from the flop , than you are getting a 36% or 3 to 1 in hand
odds to catch your card at the river, so calling or even raising
this bet will be a correct decision to make.
Webmaster for TRUE
POKER GUIDE . A website providing information on rules and
strategies for all poker games played at home, online and in casinos
today.
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