Want to become a poker leader? There are some skills that you absolutely need to master. While it’s true that poker is a game of luck, another truth is that there’s some skill involved as well. You need to get familiar with poker hands and learn how to calculate poker odds.
That’s why we’ve created this blog to help you learn how to calculate poker odds.
What Are Poker Odds?
Poker odds are basically the probability of wins and losses, or the price on offer. With the right poker odds, you can also specify how many times you need to have the best hands to call a bet. Every single move that you make in the Texas Hold’em Game has its own odds.
Poker odds are the most basic tool that a player has. To be able to master poker, you need to be able to calculate the odds. Not just yours, you also need to calculate other players’ odds as well.
Why do You need to Calculate Poker Odds?
Poker is a game of luck, but it helps to be able to calculate poker odds. Without a true understanding of what the odds are, you won’t be able to build your poker strategy. It’s not just mathematical calculations, and it can be easy to learn the odds. It takes a little bit of practice, but it’s as difficult as learning basic multiplication.
How Do Poker Odds Work?
Pot odds are the ratio between the size of the pot and the size of the bet. Let’s say your starting pot is $10 and a player bets $5 (half the pot), then the pot size is $15 and a player has to face a $5 bet.
- The pot odds are 15:5 and it would suit you better if you could reduce either side of the ratio to one. The rules of ratios are the same as any other mathematical equation, what you do to one side you must have to do to another one.
- If you divide both sides by 5, the ratio becomes pt odds of 3:1. You can work with this 3:1 ratio further to convert it into a percentage. You need to add both sides together. When you divide it by 100%, you get four equal parts of 25%. When you multiply both sides of the 3:1 ratio by 25% result and you get a 75%.
- You should use this type of poker odds, you will know if your opponent bets half of the pot, then chances are that they have at least 25% of the time. The more you try to predict what will happen later in the hand, the more complicated the calculations become.
How to Calculate Poker Odds?
You can learn to calculate poker odds for all versions of poker such as:
- Texas Hold’em (Hi-Lo 7)
- Stud Hi-Lo
- Razz
Calculate the tentative ranks and number of your poker cards and those of your opponents.
The aim of the players is to calculate the total number of unseen cards. When the flop is dealt with on the table. There are 2 hold cards, and 3 flop cards (5 cards in total). So, now you know that there are 48 unseen cards.
Here’s how you can calculate odds in Texas Hold’em, there are 48 unseen cards, 10 are outs, and the rest are losing cards.
One more shortcut to calculating poker odds is to that there are 10 outs when the flop is dealt which means you have a 10×4 = 40%.
How to Know When You Can Bet?
Knowing when to call the bet makes all the difference. When playing poker games, you will frequently find yourself facing a bet with a hand that has no showdown. Flush draws and Straight draws are the most common types of draws you’ll face.
It’s essential that you have knowledge of the draws before you make a call.
- The first ever step is to figure out how often you’ll hit the draw. On the flop in Texas Hold’em, there are 47 unseen cards, 52 minus your two-hole cards, and the three cards on the board. If you have two cards of the same suit, and the board also shows two cards of the same suit then one more will complete the draw.
- Now, you have a ratio of 38:9, this comes down to 4:1. If you’re not able to get these odds, then you should not call the bet. This becomes even more difficult when you consider implied odds. Implied odds include the real odds and the consideration of what will happen in the rest of the hand.
Here are the most common poker odds:
