Things You'll Need:
- An active poker game
- An alert mind
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Step 1
When you are drawing to a hand that you are confident will win the pot and you are forced to call a bet, first calculate the pot odds by comparing the amount of money in the pot to the amount you need to call. For example, if the pot is $500 and it costs you $100 to call, your pot odds are $500-to-$100 or 5-to-1.
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Step 2
Then calculate the odds of you getting one of the cards that will make your hand. Do this by subtracting your two hole cards and the number of cards showing on the board from the total of 52 cards. Then divide this number by the number of cards that will complete your hand. For example, if three cards are showing on the board, subtract those three cards and your two hold cards from 52 for a total of 47 cards. If you are drawing to an open ended straight and have eight outs, divide 47 by 8 to get a total of almost 6 and odds of nearly 6-to-1.
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Step 3
Try to anticipate the action on the next betting round if you do make your hand. If you think your opponent will bet or call a bet, you can factor that bet into your current pot odds and estimate your implied odds. Following the examples above, if you think your opponent will bet an additional $200 on the next round, the pot will be $800. This would give you implied odds of 8-to-1 on your $100 call this round, assuming you will make your straight. The 8-to-1 odds are more than you need to pursue a 6-to-1 hand; so in this example, you can call based on your implied odds even though the pot odds would discourage a call.
