Playing live poker online?
You need to calculate pot odds, fast
What are pot
odds and what do they have to do with playing live poker online? Let me
start with a psalm.
Church of Texas Holdem Psalm #4:
Thy must figure what odds the pot offers thou before deciding to draw
at thy hand.
Let's give you an example of how this
calculation should work. Before we go any further, though, we should
discuss a thorny issue.
Remember that you are a dedicated
disciple, committed to playing better live poker online through the
teachings of the Church of Texas Holdem?
Well, you are going to have to do some
studying. I know it's not fun, but you MUST know what your
odds are of improving before you can calculate the value the
pot is offering.
If you have not yet memorised the odds of
your hand improving, click on our Sunday School
link (this will open the Sunday School page in a new window). Everyone
else, skip the link and read on.
Now you know the odds of a
hand
improving, how do you work out pot odds?
live poker online can be stressful. There's a lot going on, especially
when it's your money in the middle. You don't want to do complex pot
odds math while the timer is ticking down.
It's
therefore important to simplify your decision-making process. You don't
need to know to the second decimal point whether or not you should
call, raise or fold. A vague idea of what's right and wrong is enough.
Let's give you an example to help the
visualisation process.
WARNING: THIS EXAMPLE MAY STARTLE YOU!
You have AsJs.
The flop offers hope, giving you the nut four flush:
Now you have a problem. The player to act before you bets $25. It looks
like he's ahead for now -- perhaps he has a King, two pairs or a set.
But before we worry about what he might be
holding, we have to look at the current situation and see whether we
have any business calling with our nut flush draw.
"Uh, Father Ashley? Aren't you
forgetting something?"
Of course I am. Glad you're awake. You
need to know plenty before you can calculate pot odds in live poker
online. The most important are:
- How much money is in the pot already?
- How many players are contesting the pot?
- What
amount will it cost to call the bet?
Let's keep this example very
simple. You are heads-up with the bettor. He's bet all-in for his last
$25 into a pot which contains $30. You know (from memory, or Sunday
School) that the odds of hitting your flush are roughly 2-to-1, or 35%.
To call, the pot odds must be better than that.
$30 in the pot + $25 the other guy has bet
= $55. The amount to call is $25. Divide the pot by the bet (55/25 =
2.2). You can see that 2.2-to-1 is good enough pot odds for you to
call. But here's the shocking part: it's actually quite a
close decision!
If the pot had only $25 in it already, it
would not make any difference if you call or fold. Why?
Because in the long term, it is a
neutral outcome.
Let's examine that statement by
illustrating it. You have to call the same $25 bet, but there is only
$50 in the pot ($25 + $25). Now the odds are exactly 2-to-1, so you
will lose $25 twice and win $50 once in three tries.
Do you see what's happened? His all-in bet
is exactly the amount which gives you no value. He has no more money to
win if you hit the flush -- you are not getting value for
your call and must therefore fold.
Any time the pot odds are not in your
favour, it is mathematically correct to fold. No matter how bizarre
this might seem! Especially when you see live poker online idiots
calling automatically in the same situations, with hands as weak as
ten-high flush draws. Remember, those idiots will pay your
mortgage for you in the long run.
Pot odds is a huge subject.
We'll come
back to it again and again.
For now, when playing live poker online, bear two things in mind:
1) MEMORISE THE ODDS OF MAKING YOUR HAND;
2) DON'T CALL UNLESS YOU ARE GETTING THE
CORRECT ODDS, OR BETTER, TO MAKE YOUR HAND.
I hope the rather surprising example above
makes you think twice, at least, before automatically making a call
with a drawing hand.
Here endeth the lesson.
