Sorry to say this, but live poker online requires some math. YUK! I know, I know. But I'm doing my best to help make this as easy for you as I can. Here's a Psalm for you: Church of Texas Holdem Psalm #4:
Thy must figure what odds the pot offers thou before deciding to draw at thy hand. Have you actually studied poker? If not, there's work to do first. You must understand and know off by heart the odds of your hand improving after the flop. There are plenty of websites offering this information, including mine (the link follows at the end of this article). Don't be too anal about working out pot odds. Just get the rough idea in easy-to-recall chunks. Two-to-one, four-to-one and so on. See! That wasn't too bad. Now for pot odds and how to calculate 'em. So, to illustate, here's a scary example in no-limit holdem. You have Ad7d. You are heads-up and there's $30 in the pot. The flop gives you the nut flush draw: Kc 9d 2dBut your opponent moves all-in for his last $25. Can you call or not? First, what do you think he has? Probably a king, two pairs, a set? You are most likely behind anyway. Now let's look at the pot and see if you can afford to call. Here comes the math! There's $30 before his bet, and $55 once he's all-in. It costs you $25 to see the turn and river. 55 divided by 25 is 2.2-to-one. Your odds of hitting the flush are two-to-one, which means you are getting more value from the pot than the amount it costs to call. Are you surprised at how close this decision is? I was! $5 less in the pot and you could either call or fold, it would make no difference to your long-term results. There would be $50 in the pot and it would cost you $25, exactly two-to-one. You'd win one time in three, which means you'd neither win nor lose! Whenever you work out pot odds and find them against you, you must fold. Even in cases when it seems close. In the long run, you will be saving money by folding. |
