A little help here?

[LSUfan1]

I have read 5 books in my newly established poker career thus far: Phil's book, WLLH, HEP, HEPFAP, and McEvoy's Tourney book. I am winning fairly consistently at 1/2 right now.

Here is my question: Where is the best book, site, post, etc. regarding pot odds/implied odds. I know I am throwing away far to many best, and I would like to stop this before trying to move up and getting my bankroll destroyed.

Thank you in advance 2+2ers for any assistance!

Cliff (LSUFAN1)

[LetsRock]

Well it seems to me the HEPFAP covers odds pretty well. IF you havn't read Theory of Poker, it covers odds as well. (It might have one or two other tidbits that can be useful for your game as well!)

[LSUfan1]

It's not that they don't cover it, and it may just be my inner idiot, but I'm not getting what I feel I should from these in the way of pot or implied odds. I know the reasoning side of things, but everything is in percentages in the book. Should I just do the math to get the 5-1 type numbers, or is there a chart somewhere that I can use.

[Jezebel]

The easiest way is just to memorize the odds associated with the number of outs. For instance after the flop your odds of hitting on the turn are roughly:

1 out = 46-1
2 out = 23-1
3 out = 15-1
4 out = 11-1
5 out = 8-1
6 out = 7-1
7 out = 6-1
8 out = 5-1
9 out = 4-1
10 out = a little better than 4-1
15 out = 2-1

It makes no sense to do the math to come up with these odds while sitting at the table. Just memorize the odds for each number of outs. Count up your outs, compare the price the pot is offering you to your odds of improving. This will be your "base" number or immediate pot odds. After you have these base numbers, you can modify them by figuring in implied odds or effective odds. For example, if you have a hand on the flop that you estimate has 6 outs to win, then the pot would need to be 7 times larger than the bet you need to call. This is your base number. Now you can modify this number a bit. If you are not last to act, the pot could be raised behind you and it is going to cost you more to see the turn. If you are not closing the action you must estimate how often it will be raised behind you and figure that into the "cost" side of the equation. This undoubtly lowers your odds a bit.

However, you also get to figure how much more money you can win if you hit your hand and it holds up (implied odds). Implied odds get figured into the "reward" side of our equation. If we hit our hand on the turn then we can plan to pick up a couple of turn and river bets. The worse our opponents are, the higher we can imply odds against them, because they will pay us off even in obvious situations where they are beat. Don't take the implied odds idea too far though. Many times you will make the hand you were hoping for and still lose. Implied odds are less valuable when drawing to a vulnerable hand and are worthless when drawing dead. Be quite conservative on your estimates. Once you work these numbers together you should have enough information to make an informed decision on whether to continue in the hand.

[LSUfan1]

Thank you!!! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

This is what I was looking for!

[Homer]