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 a 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 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.
TRUE POKER GUIDE. WWW.POKERRULE-ONLINE.COM
About The Author
Oddvar Pettersen
True Poker Guide was established as a website to provide information on rules and strategies for all poker games played at home, online and in casinos.
This article was posted on February 11, 2005 |
| |
Other Articles..
1. FootPower for Golf 2. A Quick Course For The Golf Course: Does & Don’ts 3. Learn to Play Craps - Tips and Strategies: Don't Toss in the Towel 4. History Of Caddies 5. What Color Is A Horse?
|
