Pot Odds
 

I am new to posting as well as the game I have a good understanding of playing but I am having a hard time with calculating pot odds I understand how to count my outs and get percentages for my outs but what I am not understanding is comparing that to the pot size & how to calculate the pot odds during play was wondering if I could get some assistance/advice or at least pointed in the right direction

Re: Pot Odds
 

All the money thats in the middle of the table, including money that people have bet or called before it's your turn added up is considered the "pot", then the amount of chips you have to call is the "bet"

there is a ratio, the Pot to Bet ratio is your pot odds.

There is $10 in the middle and it costs you $2 to see the next card, you have 10 to 2 (the same as 5 to 1 if you reduce fractions) pot odds.

If you know how many cards in the deck will improve your hand they are called "outs", after the flop there are 47 cards left that you have not seen (cards in other peoples hands are considered unknown unless you are 100% you know what they are holding), the ratio of the unseen cards to your outs is your "odds to improve"

If there are 47 unseen cards and you have an open ended straight draw there are 8 cards that will improve you hand.

47 to 8 reduces to 1 to 4.8

So you have pot odds of 1 to 5
You have odds to improve of 1 to 4.8

If you ignore the money that will be placed in to the pot in later betting rounds you can see that you will make a profit every time you call with an open ended straight draw (assuming that it wins the showdown) because the odds that the pot is offering are better than the odds to make the straight.

For a better explinantion you should check out Small Stakes Hold em and Theory of Poker by 2+2 Publishing.

Re: Pot Odds
 

I am reading theroy of poker now & will check out small stakes hold em when I am done thanks for the reply