Calculating Pot Odds
One of the most important concepts in poker is calculating pot odds. Pot odds is the ratio of the size of the pot compared to the amount you have to risk to remain in the hand. As basic a concept calculating pot odds is, players playing at online poker sites as well as in casinos often make mistakes in determining if they have proper pot odds to call a bet. Knowing if you have the proper pot odds to call a bet is essential to making profitable decisions when you have a drawing hand such as a straight or flush draw.
To determine if you have proper pot odds to make a call, you need to calculate the odds the pot is laying you and compare that ratio to the odds of you hitting your hand.
Example: You are holding K
Q on the button, three handed, the flop is 2 A 6
and there is $30 in the pot from preflop action. The first player leads out with a pot sized bet of $10 and the second player calls. The action is now on you.
First, lets determine the odds the pot is laying you. The pot started at $30, a player bet $10 and another player called $10. The pot now contains $50 and you would need to call $10 to win $50. All you have to do is divide the amount in the pot by the amount you would need to make the call. The pot equals $50 and the amount to make the call is $10. Dividing 50 by 10 equals five. The pot is laying you 5:1 odds.
Second, we need to determine the odds of hitting your flush draw. The chart at the bottom of this page will give you the exact poker pot odds, but is the simplest way of calculating pot odds when you don't have a chart to refer to is to use the Multiply by 2 Rule. The Multiply by 2 Rule won't give you the exact poker pot odds, but it will get you close enough and is easy to do when your sitting at the table. The first step is to determine how many outs you have. There are 9 remaining clubs in the deck that will give you a flush. Therefore, the number of outs in this example is 9. Then simply multiply the number of outs by two. (9 x 2 = 18%) There is a 18% chance you will hit your draw on the turn.
The next step is to convert the percentage to odds. This is done by dividing the percentage of hitting our hand into 100. Then subtracting that number by 1.
Converting the example percentage to odds:
Divide your % into 100 (100 / 18 = 5.56)
Then subtract 1 (5.56 - 1 = 4.56)
4.56:1 odds of hitting your draw
As you can see the Multiply by 2 Rule gets you close to the exact odds in the chart. It is a good idea to memorize the odds of the common draws from the chart, such as a flush draw and an open ended straight draw.
Now all you have to do is compare the odds of you hitting your hand (4.56:1) to the odds the pot is laying you (5:1). If the odds the pot is laying you is greater than the odds of hitting your hand it would be a profitable decision to make the call.
In this example it would be profitable to make the call since 5:1 is greater than 4.56:1.
Keep in mind that just because you hit your draw doesn't mean you automatically will win the hand. You could hit your straight draw and lose to a bigger straight or even a flush or full house.
There are times where you should multiply by 4 instead of by 2. On the flop, if you are only facing a call against all-in player(s) you should multiply by 4 instead of 2. You multiply by four since you will get to see 2 cards without having to call any additional bets, because the player(s) are all-in. This is also the only time you should use the flop to river columns in the chart.
| Flop to the River | Turn to the River | ||||
| Outs | Common Draws | Percent | Odds | Percent | Odds |
| 20 | 67.5 | 0.48-1 | 43.5 | 1.30-1 | |
| 19 | 65.0 | 0.54-1 | 41.3 | 1.42-1 | |
| 18 | 62.4 | 0.60-1 | 39.1 | 1.56-1 | |
| 17 | 59.8 | 0.67-1 | 37.0 | 1.71-1 | |
| 16 | 57.0 | 0.75-1 | 34.8 | 1.88-1 | |
| 15 | Straight & Flush | 54.1 | 0.85-1 | 32.6 | 2.07-1 |
| 14 | 51.2 | 0.95-1 | 30.4 | 2.29-1 | |
| 13 | 48.1 | 1.08-1 | 28.3 | 2.54-1 | |
| 12 | 45.0 | 1.22-1 | 26.1 | 2.83-1 | |
| 11 | 41.7 | 1.40-1 | 23.9 | 3.18-1 | |
| 10 | 38.4 | 1.60-1 | 21.7 | 3.60-1 | |
| 9 | Flush | 35.0 | 1.86-1 | 19.6 | 4.11-1 |
| 8 | Straight | 31.5 | 2.17-1 | 17.4 | 4.75-1 |
| 7 | 27.8 | 2.60-1 | 15.2 | 5.57-1 | |
| 6 | 24.1 | 3.15-1 | 13.0 | 6.67-1 | |
| 5 | 20.3 | 3.93-1 | 10.9 | 8.20-1 | |
| 4 | Pair or Inside Straight Draw | 16.5 | 5.06-1 | 8.7 | 10.50-1 |
| 3 | 12.5 | 7.00-1 | 6.5 | 14.33-1 | |
| 2 | 8.4 | 10.90-1 | 4.3 | 22.00-1 | |
| 1 | 4.3 | 22.26-1 | 2.2 | 45.00-1 | |
