Re: Pot Odds vs break even odds?
I'm not sure what he meant, but I would interpret it this way.
If there is $100 in the pot and you must put in $20 to call, your pot odds are 5 to 1. If you win, you win five times as much as you lose if you lose. You would take this bet as long as you have at least 1 chance in 6 of winning (ignoring any subsequent betting).
Breakeven odds are the pot odds you need in order to call. Suppose you have a nut four flush on the flop in hold'em, with no pairs on the board. Your chance of getting the flush is 35%. If it will cost you $70 to call, you need $130 in the pot to make it a postive EV bet (actually, with a flush draw your implied pot odds make it worthwhile to call even with less in the pot, but we'll ignore that for now). 13 to 7 are your breakeven odds. If the actual pot odds are better than the breakeven odds, you call.
You should get the same answer doing the calculation either way. I don't know why someone would prefer one to the other.
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