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POT ODDS RATIOS - THE CONCEPT OF POT ODDS RATIOS
Pot odds ratios are a useful tool to see how often you need to win the hand to break even. If there is $100 in the pot and it takes $10 to call, you must win this hand 1 out of 11 times in order to break even.
Or put in another way this poker specific thinking translates to:
If you play 11 times, it'll cost you $110, but when you win, you get $110 ($100 + your $10 call).
The outstanding importance of card odds and pot odds becomes very apparent when you start comparing the two.
As we know now, in a flush draw, your card odds for making your flush are 1.9 to 1 or 35%.
Let's assume you decide to play out a hand with a nut flush draw and it's $5 to you on the flop to call. Do you call? Your answer should not be: Yes or no, but what are my pot odds?
If there is $15 in the pot plus a $5 bet from an opponent, then you are getting 20:5 (the pot is at $20 and it costs you $5 to stay in the game) or 4:1 pot odds – 25%.
This means that in order to break even, you must win 1 out of every 5 times. But we have learned that, with your flush draw, your odds of winning are 1 out of every 3 times!
You should quickly realize that not only are you breaking even, but you will be making a nice profit on this too, given that this scenario repeats itself often in your poker career.
Let's calculate the profit margin on this by theoretically playing this hand 100 times from the flop, when is then checked to the river.
Total Cost to Play = 100 hands * $5 to call = - $500 Pot Value = $15 + $5 bet + $5 call = $25
Odds to Win = 1.9:1 or 35% (From the flop)
Total Hands Won = 100 * Odds to Win (35%) = 35 wins
Net Profit = Net Cost to Play + (Total Times Won * Pot Value) = - $500 + (35 * $30)
= - $500 + $1,050
= $550 Profit
We believe that everybody can now see that you have a real reason to play this flush draw, because you'll be making money in the long run according to your card odds and pot odds.
The most fundamental truth to realize and to take from this is: If your Pot Odds > Card Odds, then you are making a profit over a given amount of time.
This was only a brief overview of the most important concepts of odds and probabilities in Texas Holdem.
If you want to be a pro at them in no time, read
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