How did you learn to quickly calculate pot odds/equity?

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RickAversion

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  1. Pot equity is basically number of outs divided by number of remaining cards
  2. Pot odds is just Call amount divided by Call+pot, correct?
  3. If pot equity > pot odds, then you call.

How do I get fast at this?
I can't really do it in actual online play, since it's too fast.
 
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GWU73

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Memorize (or list) your odds as a percentage (outs/cards unseen) in advance. Estimate discounted outs. Compare to list. Estimate the same percentage of the total pot. Consider if you will have to face another bet. Act

Super fast. Very effective.

Do not forget you have different odds on the flop for 1 card and 2 cards if no further betting. You also have slightly different 1 card odds on the flop and turn. Consider fold equity and fake outs for cards that represent good bluffing opportunities (draws you do not have, over cards, pairing the board etc) after you have some experience.
 
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A9ofHearts

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Also make sure that you are also only counting the odds for the next card, meaning if you have a 1 in 2 of catching one of your outs, keep in mind that you will probably also be facing another raise on the river.
Example:
You have Ac10c
The flop is 6d8cKd
and you are pretty sure that the villain has Kx
You have a 4.2 of catching the flop on the turn, and if you miss the turn you have a 4.1 of catching your flush on the river, so your total odds are about 1 in 2, so if you call his raise you have to be getting 4 to 1 on your money to make it worth while. A few things to keep in mind though are; 1. look for "Hidden Outs" such as the 3 aces in the above example that would give you top pair. 2 Look for places where you have both good fold equity and a good chance of flopping the nuts, these are really good because if the pot is a big enough size you can often times have fairly good odds even if they call you down. 3 keep in mind that sometimes you will flop the nuts, but then have them trumped. Such as a situation where you might have the nut flush draw, but he has a set, so there is a fairly good chance that you will flop the nut flush, but then they will flop a full house trumping your flush.

The easiest way to calculate pot odds is to just keep a calculator open while you play, then;
put in the number of unseen cards. (52-minus your hand and the flop)
then figure out how many "outs" you have and deduct that, then divide the remaining number by how many outs you have.
Example:
You have 5d7d
the flop is 4d10dQh
So there are 47 unseen cards (52 minus your two hole cards and the three flop cards)
take that number and deduct your outs (13 diamond cards minus the two in your hand and the two on the table which is 9)
you should then have 38, take that and divide it by your number of outs (9)
and you will have your chance of catching your card on the turn (1 in 4.2) divide that by 2 and you have your approximate chance of hitting one of your cards on either the turn or the river (1 in 2)
After you do this for awhile you will memorize most of these figures and you will usually have your numbers without even thinking about it.
I hope this helps and if anyone sees someplace where my figures don't line up please post and tell me where I'm wrong
 
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Goathair

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I started using Ace Poker Drills. I'm still trying to get better at it, but it will put you in hand situations, and quiz you on your odds/outs or equity, with the idea being with the repetitive drills you will start seeing these common situations, and be able to recognize these spots at the table. Kind of a cool way to learn.
 
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tim132

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I just read Bill Vosti's 6-max cash game and a good bit of information I picked up was regarding drawing odds is this....

Say you have 4 cards to the flush on the flop, therefore you have 9 outs.

For a quick calculation that works out pretty close all you do is this...

9 outs x 4 = 36% (turn)
9 outs x 2 = 18% (river)

So basically you work out the number of outs you have and multiply them by 4 with the turn and river still to come.

With only the river to come you multiply the number of outs by 2.
 
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RickAversion

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Example:
You have Ac 10c
The flop is 6d 8c Kd
and you are pretty sure that the villain has Kx
You have a 4.2 of catching the flop on the turn, and if you miss the turn you have a 4.1 of catching your flush on the river, so your total odds are about 1 in 2, so if you call his raise you have to be getting 4 to 1 on your money to make it worth while.

Is there a typo here? There are only 3 clubs showing in this scenario. Youd odds of a flush are way lower than 1 in 2. In fact, to get 2 more clubs, it's 9/47 + 8/46 = 3%
 
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RickAversion

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You have 5d 7d
the flop is 4d 10d Qh

So there are 47 unseen cards (52 minus your two hole cards and the three flop cards)
take that number and deduct your outs (13 diamond cards minus the two in your hand and the two on the table which is 9)
you should then have 38, take that and divide it by your number of outs (9)
and you will have your chance of catching your card on the turn (1 in 4.2) divide that by 2 and you have your approximate chance of hitting one of your cards on either the turn or the river (1 in 2)
After you do this for awhile you will memorize most of these figures and you will usually have your numbers without even thinking about it.
I hope this helps and if anyone sees someplace where my figures don't line up please post and tell me where I'm wrong

Shouldn't it be 9/47? (9 diamond outs...out of 47 cards left)

Then you count this possibility twice for the river and turn.
This gives 9/47 + 9/47 = 38% odds of hitting flush in the next 2 cards.

But, for the other part, let's do a pot equity calculation.
Pot odds = Call amount / Pot + call amount

9/47 is 19% chance of hitting flush on the next card.
So, if the pot is $100 and the raise is $10.
Pot odds = 10 / 120 = 8.3%

Since Pot Equity > Pot Odds, you will call the $10 raise.

Is that right?
 
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JusSumguy

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To quickly calculate your pot odds, take your outs and multiply by 4 for the turn and by 2 for the river.

9 outs... 36% turn. 18% river.

This will get you within 2% of the true calculated odds.

-
 
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RickAversion

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Thanks! I just discovered Phil Gordon's Rule of 2 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wux3avg1CM

In this video at 1:50, you have 25% pot equity (12 outs of 47 cards)
$100 pot. $50 raise. So, now the pot is $150
Pot odds = 50 / (150+50) = 25%?

Since pot equity = pot odds, it's a toss up.
 
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RoTs

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As JusSumguy said take your remaining outs and multiply 4 for the turn and river cards or 2 for one card.
I use a break even percentage vs. probability
ex. my hand J10c
Flop Ac7h2c Pot 100 villain bets 50
Pot odds 3 to1, break even percentage 25 , probability of hitting outs 36% based on 2 cards to come
So 36% > 25% so calling the bet of 50 is acceptable
 
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steveiam

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The odds for the turn x 4 is only if you plan to see both turn and river.Otherwise its x 2 each for turn and river
 
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RickAversion

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As JusSumguy said take your remaining outs and multiply 4 for the turn and river cards or 2 for one card.
I use a break even percentage vs. probability
ex. my hand J10c
Flop Ac7h2c Pot 100 villain bets 50
Pot odds 3 to1, break even percentage 25 , probability of hitting outs 36% based on 2 cards to come
So 36% > 25% so calling the bet of 50 is acceptable

How did you convert from 3:1 odds into 25% pot equity?
I just do: Call amount / (Pot + raise + call)
In this case: 50/200 = 25%
Is that what you're doing?

Also, he could raise on the river, so I would not use 36%
For the turn, your odds of hitting are 18% (9 outs)
So, it's really 18% vs. 25% pot odds.
In this case, it makes sense to fold, right?
 
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Thanks! I just discovered Phil Gordon's Rule of 2 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wux3avg1CM

In this video at 1:50, you have 25% pot equity (12 outs of 47 cards)
$100 pot. $50 raise. So, now the pot is $150
Pot odds = 50 / (150+50) = 25%?

Since pot equity = pot odds, it's a toss up.

FYI this doesn't really hold up past 8 outs too accurately. In a lot of cases you won't need to be super accurate since you are approximate a range any ways. But in some cases when it's close and you have say 12 outs or more it will matter. I made a modified rule to the "2x4" rule to adapt to this. It's what I was pointing to in the free ace poker drills. The Odds and outs trainer is completely free and used a simple mode (which uses the "2x4" rule like you mentioned), and a more advanced rule to adapt odds.
 
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RoTs

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How did you convert from 3:1 odds into 25% pot equity?
I just do: Call amount / (Pot + raise + call)
In this case: 50/200 = 25%
Is that what you're doing?

Also, he could raise on the river, so I would not use 36%
For the turn, your odds of hitting are 18% (9 outs)
So, it's really 18% vs. 25% pot odds.
In this case, it makes sense to fold, right?
Similar with all the odd amounts that bets could be I just take the 3 to 1 and add them 3+1. 100/3+1=25

Yes villain can bet the turn but so many factors on the flop change how to play the hand (stack sizes, cbet %, turn aggression and so on) plus flop draw was more or less what we were hoping for so always folding to flop bet is too nitty.
 
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A9ofHearts

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Is there a typo here? There are only 3 clubs showing in this scenario. Youd odds of a flush are way lower than 1 in 2. In fact, to get 2 more clubs, it's 9/47 + 8/46 = 3%

Thanks for pointing that out. That was a typo, I meant it to say two clubs one diamond
 
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A9ofHearts

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Shouldn't it be 9/47? (9 diamond outs...out of 47 cards left)

Then you count this possibility twice for the river and turn.
This gives 9/47 + 9/47 = 38% odds of hitting flush in the next 2 cards.

But, for the other part, let's do a pot equity calculation.
Pot odds = Call amount / Pot + call amount

9/47 is 19% chance of hitting flush on the next card.
So, if the pot is $100 and the raise is $10.
Pot odds = 10 / 120 = 8.3%

Since Pot Equity > Pot Odds, you will call the $10 raise.

Is that right?

Yeah, thanks for posting this. I'm not sure where I got my figures.
It also seems I missed the whole point of your post too, I thought you were wanting to know how to figure pot odds, not how to get fast at pot odds. My apologies for the incorrect post.
 
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A9ofHearts

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How did you convert from 3:1 odds into 25% pot equity?
I just do: Call amount / (Pot + raise + call)
In this case: 50/200 = 25%
Is that what you're doing?

Also, he could raise on the river, so I would not use 36%
For the turn, your odds of hitting are 18% (9 outs)
So, it's really 18% vs. 25% pot odds.
In this case, it makes sense to fold, right?
That depends on how much of his stack you think you will get if you hit your outs.
If you are in position and you think you have a good chance of him calling a reraise than it might be worth making the call
I just watched the video and they have a good point, but they don't take into account the fact that you can re-raise them and increase the pot that way, so even if the pot odds are slightly against you it can still be worth making the call because you can re-raise them and increase the pot that way, so be sure you take into account the fact that you can raise on the river if you hit your outs and make it so that the odds will be in your favor after your raise.
 
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RickAversion

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I'm not sure if I should use percent or odds to calculate pot odds.
This needs to be done quickly, and seems like I almost need a calculator.

Pot = $100
Raise $100.

What are the pot odds?
It's easy to calculate 2:1 odds ($200 total vs. $100 to call)
Or, pay $100 to win $200. 2:1

But, I need to convert that to a percent to compare to my pot equity.
2:1 = 1/(2+1) = 1/3 = 33%.
Seems like a lot of work since there's an extra step
 
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RickAversion

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I am going to memorize a few raise amounts:
2pqlzbt.jpg
 
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RickAversion

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If pot = $100 and the raise is $10, what are the pot odds?

Is this the correct calculation?

Pot odds = 10/120 = 8%?
or...It's 11:1, and 1/12 = 8%

Can someone clarify this once and for all?
 
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RoTs

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Can someone clarify this once and for all?
If pot = $100 and the raise is $10, what are the pot odds?

Which is the correct calculation?

A) Pot odds = 10/110 = 9%?
or...It's 10:1, and 1/11 = 9%

B) pot odds = 10/120 = 8%?

Pot odds is 11 to 1, now add 11+1. 100/12=8.3.
8.3 is your break even percentage
 
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RickAversion

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Ok, so this is the correct calculation, indeed:
= Call amount / (Pot + villain raise + my call)
= 10 / (100 +10 + 10)
= 10 / 120 = 8.3%

and alternatively:
11:1 = 1/12 = 8.3%
 
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RoTs

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Ok, so this is the correct calculation, indeed:
= Call amount / (Pot + villain raise + my call)
= 10 / (100 +10 + 10)
= 10 / 120 = 8.3%

and alternatively:
11:1 = 1/12 = 8.3%

Looks right for your break even percentage. Now calculate your hand equity and if its greater than break even than it is most likely profitable to call
 
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