Recently, I received a question from one of my students. It stated, "What precisely is pot odds and is Texas holdem pot probabilities system worth pursuing?"
One point to bear in mind, any kind of Holdem probabilities can and usually do have quite confusing. Nevertheless, let me break pot probabilities down in really uncomplicated terms. Please note that we are only discussing Pot Probabilities. Not outs, implied odds, uncomplicated probabilities or something else like that.
In short, pot odds are the probabilities you receive when determining the ratio of the quantity of money in the pot to the quantity of money it is going to expense you to call the wager.
For instance, let us say you are heads up with Player A. If there is $150.00 in the pot after the flop and Gambler A places a twenty dollars wager it is going to expense you only thirteen per cent of the pot to stay in the hand. If your likelihood of winning is greater than 13 % it’s a no-brainer to call because you’ll have good pot probabilities.
That’s all there would be to it actually. Hold em pot probabilities boils down to one thing. If your chance of winning is far better than the ratio of the pot size to the bet then you might have excellent pot probabilities. If it’s lower than you might have bad pot odds.
One additional thought about Hold’em pot odds. You’re still playing the player a lot more so than anything else. Play the gambler a lot more than your starting hands or the size of the chip stack and even, yes the pot probabilities.
If you’ll be able to learn to read your opponents well you’ll be able to utilize pot probabilities to aid justify or solidify your determination. But Hold em pot odds don’t have to be an end all whenever you produce a poker decision.
Knowing and understanding how Texas hold em pot odds work is usually a useful and successful system. Except again don’t make Hold’em pot probabilities your only system.