I need help with the Pot Odds

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chewie49

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Hi Guys!

Let's say I have 3s6d. Flop is 4h2s5d.

I would need a 7 or a 2 to make a straight. So I have 8 outs.

8 x 2 + 1 = 17%

then, the pot is .82cents and I need to call .20

I have problems calculatig the pot odds in "cents"...What would be the right maths here? 82:20? 8.2:2.0?

in case it is 8.2:2.0 should I Add 8.2+2.0 = 10.2 and then 1/10.2= 0.098% ??

17% > 0.098%

Is this Correct???

this seems too confusing to me.

Thanks!

chewie.
 
Dwilius

Dwilius

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First of all, you already have a straight in your example, so let's make the 2 a Ten instead. Yes, you're about 17% to hit the straight on the next card. If your opponent has bet 20 into a 62 pot, that's 82 cents you can win for 20 cents. So thats 20/102 of the total pot, ~20% which is more than 17% so you wouldn't have odds to call if that was the last card to come and you couldn't get any money out your villain when you hit. That's not the case though, you should be able to get something on the next street (implied odds) or if opponent shuts down you could get a free card to draw again.
 
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dsvw56

dsvw56

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Well in your example you already have a straight lol, but we'll use an OESD as the example here.

Your first part is correct. You have roughly 17% equity.

To do the second part, you have to figure out how often you need to win to break even given the wager laid before you. In your example you are being asked to wager .20 to win .82 (usually expressed as .82:.20 or simplified to 4:1) . There's a couple ways you can go about doing this.

A) You can convert your equity to a ratio as well and compare them that way. 17% works out to about 4.8:1. Math behind it :

(100% / 17%) - 1 = 4.8

or

B) You can convert the risk/reward ratio to a % and compare it to your equity. .82:.20 or 4:1 is ~20%. Math behind it :

.20 / (.20+.82) = .196 or ~20%


So if your equity is greater than the pot odds you are being laid, you can continue. In this case, we only have 17% equity but are contributing 20% of the pot, or we are 4.8:1 against to make our hand and are only being offered 4:1.

This of course does not take action on future streets (implied odds) in to consideration, which is a whole new can of worms.
 
bgomez89

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what? how is it 17%? I thought you use the rule of 4 and 2 so it would be about 8*4=32% and then to hit it on the river it'd be 8*2=16%?

as for the pot odds this way is how i'd do it:

(get rid of the decimals)82/20=4.1
so now we have 4.1:1
then add 1 to 4.1
then just divide 1 by 5

1/5=20%
 
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chewie49

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yes, My mistake. In the example there was already a Straight.

what? how is it 17%? I thought you use the rule of 4 and 2 so it would be about 8*4=32% and then to hit it on the river it'd be 8*2=16%?

as for the pot odds this way is how i'd do it:

(get rid of the decimals)82/20=4.1
so now we have 4.1:1
then add 1 to 4.1
then just divide 1 by 5

1/5=20%

yes, I am confused abbout that part too. I have read in some cases that we should x 2 our outs and + 1. Bu in other cases I've read that we mut do what you are saying: x 4 if we are waiting for the turn and x 2 if we are on the river.

1.- Please, Could somebody explain the difference?

2.- What is that 4.1.1? (the latter .1 comes from where?)

3.-
what about the Pot Odds when we haven't seen the Flop?

4.- What about if I have, let's say: 2s2h and the the flop is 10s,Kd,4C (One pocket pair but we need to improve our hand) How Can I calculate the Odds for, let's say a Three of a kind, or full house or a Quad?
 
Dwilius

Dwilius

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Multiplying outs by two is to estimate the % of time you'll hit the next card, whether its the turn or river. Multiplying by four is for when you only have to call one bet to see two cards, as on an allin bet on the flop.
 
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chewie49

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... Multiplying by four is for when you only have to call one bet to see two cards, as on an allin bet on the flop.

Could you please give me an example? I am not getting it :confused:
 
bgomez89

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Could you please give me an example? I am not getting it :confused:
basically what he said is this:

say you have A9 diamonds. The flop comes up Qd 2d 5h. You just flopped a flush draw. So here's how you calculate it, say you just want to see one more card too see if you hit the flush but if you don't then you'll fold. That's when you multiply by 2. BUT if you know you're going to chase till the river thats when you multiply by 4.
 
slgalt

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Phil Gordon has a good explanation called of the rule of 4 and 2, I think there's even a video of it, so google it or go look through Phil's book.
 
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chewie49

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Thanks for the explanation.

What about these:

1.- Please, Could somebody explain the difference?

2.- What is that 4.1.1? (the latter .1 comes from where?)

3.-
what about the Pot Odds when we haven't seen the Flop?

4.- What about if I have, let's say: 2s2h and the the flop is 10s,Kd,4C (One pocket pair but we need to improve our hand) How Can I calculate the Odds for, let's say a Three of a kind, or full house or a Quad?
 
Dwilius

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1. already answered.
2. 4.1 to 1 not 4.1.1, look at that post again., its 4.1:1
3. same way. If someone raise to 3.5bb and it folds to you in the bb, the pot is 1.5bb (your money and the sb) +3.5bb. so you have to call 2.5bb for 5bb already in the pot. You are getting 2:1, but preflop you still have 3 streets to bet on, so implied odds are more important.
4. You only have 2 outs, so less than 5% chance of improving on the next street. Fold.
 
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Download pokerstove (you should just be able to google it). It's much faster than doing the math. I'll show the math for 4. for explanatory purposes. You'll notice that the math is quite tedious and it is generally a better idea to memorize general pot odds for situations that come up often (flush draws, straight draws, etc) then implement them. Then if you want to analyze a particular situation, use something like pokerstove.

2s2h with 10sKd4c flop. There are 5 cards that we can know of for sure meaning there are 47 unknown cards. There are the two remaining 2's that can improve our hand. Thus, there is a 2/47 chance that we improve on the turn. Assuming we miss, there is a 2/46 chance that we improve on the river. The chance that we miss both the turn and the river is (47-2)/47 * (46-2)/46 = 45/47 * 44/46 = 91.6% Thus, our chances of hitting on the turn or river is about 8.4%.

Thus, if we were to be calling an all in, we would need 8.4% / (1-8.4%) = 8.4 / 91.6 = 1 / 11 Therefore we need 11:1 odds to be calling an all in.
 
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