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Determining Pot Odds
In poker, one of the most important concepts of strategy is pot odds, which are defined as the ratio of the current
size of the pot divided by the size of the next potential bet, from the point of view of the player about to make
the bet. For example, if a player is facing a $5 raise by his opponent (and must therefore pay $5 to call the raise),
and the total amount of money in the pot (including the uncalled raise) before his potential call is $30, then he is
facing 6-to-1 pot odds for the call. If he is contemplating raising another $5 (making his potential bet $10), then
he is facing 3-to-1 pot odds for the raise.
For every potential action (fold, call, raise) at every point in a game of poker, the correct strategy is influenced
by the pot odds facing the player. For example, the lower the pot odds facing a call, the more likely it is that
folding will be the correct play, and the higher the pot odds facing a call, the more likely it is that calling is
the correct play (to take an extreme example, if you can call for $1 with a $1000 pot, there is essentially no hand
that would be correct to fold, because you only have to win one time in a thousand in similar situations for the
call to be profitable). Similarly, small pot odds favor bluffing, because they make it less correct for an opponent
to call.
Frequently players develop instinct or judgment about the size of the pot relative to their potential bets in
various situations and make adjustments, but in some cases it is important to get an exact count. For example,
on the next-to-last round of a game when your opponent bets and you are facing a decision on whether to call
with a Drawing hand, you need to compare your exact pot odds with the odds of completing your hand (though other
factors may be involved as well). Another situation is deciding whether to bluff on the final round: Game theory
shows that one should bluff a percentage of the time equal to your opponent's pot odds to call the bluff. For
example, in a Pot limit game if the pot is $30 and you are contemplating a $30 bet (which will give your opponent
2-to-1 pot odds for his call), you should bluff half as often as you would bet for Value. With a larger pot, you
would bluff less often.
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