Pot Odds

[Rbower]

I understand the idea that a good bet is one in which you are getting better odds on your money than the probability of making your hand. If the pot is giving me 10 to 1 on my money and it is 4 to 1 that I will make the winning hand, that is a good bet.

I have question on how to gauge this with two cards to come. For sake of this question I’m using approximations. I know that on the flop if I have two hearts in my hand and there are two hearts on the board, it is approximately 2 to 1 that I will get a flush by the river. Does that mean I need to get 2 to 1 on my money before the turn card or 4 to 1? It’s about 4 to 1 that I will get the flush on the turn and then 4 to 1 again that I will get it on the river. I’ve only been going for a flush if I’m getting 4 to 1 on each street, but I read in a book yesterday that I should be using 2 to 1 on the turn and then 4 to 1 on the river.

[PantsOnFire]

This is a good simple example.

In Limit Holdem, if you are drawing to a flush on the flop, you can use the 2 to 1 odds because you likely know you will have to place a small bet on the flop and a large bet on the river. This is assuming you are heads up and just calling your opponent. If there are other players then there may be raises which will affect your calculations. In multiway pots I use the the 4 to 1 odds to see the turn.

In NL, things are different. I will usually use the 4 to 1 odds for the flop only. This is because the turn bet can be any amount so you can't calculate your odds to the river. However, the situation is different if one of you is all-in in on the flop. Then you use the 2 to 1 for the call since there will be no more betting and you will see the turn and the river.

I play mostly NL so I also use other tools like implied odds, semi-bluffing, having other outs, etc regarding draws. It is much more complicated in NL.

The only scenario that is dead simple is in either limit or NL, if you are the last to act by calling on the flop (or the turn), you can easily use the 4 to 1 odds to decided
if you want to see the next card. Hey, there's that position thing again coming in handy.

[Gonso]

[ QUOTE ]
but I read in a book yesterday that I should be using 2 to 1 on the turn and then 4 to 1 on the river.

[/ QUOTE ]

More to it than that, here's a handy thing though (called Rule of Two & Rule of Four):

For every card to come, multiply your outs by 2%. In your flush example, you probably have 9 outs - the remaining hearts.

To calculate your percentage of hitting on the turn only (1 card), it's 9 x 2 = 18%. If you know you'll see two cards for the same price, then you need to know what your chances are of getting one of your outs on either the turn or river. Since you get to see 2 cards, and each card is worth 2%, it's 9 X 4 = 36%.

From here you can figure your odds out... I recommend memorizing that actual odds and percentages, at least for the most common draws.

When you've got this concept down pat go directly to implied odds, or you will be folding too often. In reality, you can often call flop bets when you're not getting odds to call on your flsuh draw (or any draw).