Pot Odds Bottom Pair

[wacki]

I've been told before that you need 8.6 to 1 pot odds to call bottom pair. Does this change at all if the pot is short handed? Also, how is the number 8.6 to calculated?

[Lost Wages]

If you have a pair on the flop using one of your hole cards, then the probability of making 2 pair or trips on the next card is 5/47 = 10.6% or 8.43:1 against.

So if in your judgement:
a) you don't have the best hand and
b) making 2 pair or trips would give you a winning hand,
then strictly from a pot odds perspective you would need to be getting >8.43:1 on your call for it to be correct. It doesn't matter how many players are in the pot other than how that affects a & b.

Of course there is much more to deciding when to call than simply calculating pot odds.

Lost Wages