do any of you know..

[thelyingthief]

if there are, or where i might obtain, the pre-flop pot odds necessary to play hands like 9-7 suited, etc.?

[grapabo]

I don't think that's possible to be answered in the abstract. It depends on position, what you think ops bet with, and other considerations that are outside the realm of pure math.

[thelyingthief]

alas..

[AaronBrown]

I'm not sure what you mean by "pre-flop odds." 97s is an average hand, it will win 49.5% of the time heads up. It improves with more players, at a table of 10 it wins 12.5% of the time while the average hand wins 10% of the time.

Therefore, if you were playing at a table of 10, and everyone always goes all-in with any hand, you'd make money playing 97s. The trouble, of course, is in real poker people mostly play hands that usually beat 97s, and fold the ones that usually don't. So you won't get paid off at 9 to 1 for playing it, more like 2 to 1, and you won't win 33% of the time.

97s can be a good hand to play if you think you're up against high card hands that don't share your suit. For example, it will win 21% of the time against ATo, KQs and JJ (assuming none of those hands share its suit). You can collect big if you hit a straight or flush, or if there are two 9's or 7's on the board; you might also win with 97. You won't lose much in most other cases, because you'll be able to fold immediately after the flop if nothing good happens.