Understanding Pot Odds

Here is an excerpt from an article on the Pacific Poker website that explains pot odds very effectively. This is a very important concept to understand in order to be a consistent winner at poker.

One of the most overlooked skills in modern poker is the ability to calculate the pot odds, particularly after the flop. Pot odds means the odds that you need to justify a call, based on the money in the pot and assuming you will win if you hit a draw.

For example, let's say you have a flush draw on the flop, in which case you will have 9 'outs' meaning you have a 19.1% chance of hitting a flush on the Turn. Therefore, to justify a call based on pot odds alone, you are forced to assume that you will win if you hit the flush, but will lose otherwise so the amount that you call must be lower than 19.1% of the pot to justify a call. Simple!

It's best to think of pot odds as if you were an entrant in a raffle. Let's say that the raffle is giving away $100 in cash to one lucky winner with 5 people in the raffle. You therefore have a 20% chance of winning. But how much would you spend to have a 20% chance of winning $100? The answer is up to, but no more than, $20 of course (.20 * $100= $20).