Applying pot odds and equity

[KyleFZ6]

Hi All

I'm very new to poker but putting a lot of effort into studying and learning.

I have a question regarding pot odds and equity. I understand the procedure to calculating card equity and how to calculate pot odds and the need to have a greater card equity than pot odds to make a call.

The issue I'm having is putting this into practice? How are you supposed to do these calculations quickly in a live environment?

Most articles I read suggest using calculators to calculate your equity but you can't really do that at the table? And doing the pot odds calculations can be difficult to do quickly in my head depending on the size of the pot?

I'm assuming playing online you can have software that calculates it all for you?

Thanks!

 

[rigor mortis]

Speed will come after you put the time in

 

[shinmenkami]

Start thinking on your strategy before the game. You can use software to help you.
At least for the hands you know are in your range. Usually poker courses cover that, but if you are learning by yourself you will need to spend alot of time building a strategy to be playing reactivelly the less time possible. You can also use those softwares to rewatch your hands and make notes on what you did wrong (or right) and adjust the strategy.

Till then you can play using a rough estimate and your anotations.

Cheers

 

[Poker_Mike]

Practice Practice Practice

Hi All

I'm very new to poker but putting a lot of effort into studying and learning.

I have a question regarding pot odds and equity. I understand the procedure to calculating card equity and how to calculate pot odds and the need to have a greater card equity than pot odds to make a call.

The issue I'm having is putting this into practice? How are you supposed to do these calculations quickly in a live environment?

Most articles I read suggest using calculators to calculate your equity but you can't really do that at the table? And doing the pot odds calculations can be difficult to do quickly in my head depending on the size of the pot?

I'm assuming playing online you can have software that calculates it all for you?

Thanks!

The thread is correct.

The more you play the quicker you will read the board and your opponent. Eventually you will be planning your move a street or two ahead of your opponent.

If you read the T&Cs at most online poker sites - they prohibit the use of a pot odds calculator while you are playing.

Live play - take all the time you need to decide what to do or how much to bet.

 

[Nafor]

How are you supposed to do these calculations quickly in a live environment?

I'm assuming playing online you can have software that calculates it all for you?

Welcome to the forum Kyle,

These are good questions and they show that you are willing to develop yourself. Doing calculations in your head is hard and when a long game takes its toll it usually starts to become even harder. But there is no need to calculate exact numbers. A round estimate is usually good enough.

There are 'rules of thumb' that can be used in these scenarios. Like, if you are facing a pot sized bet you need to win 33% of the time to be profitable. If antes are in play they change the numbers a bit. These kind of thing can be found online.

It is true that many helping softwares are forbidden but there are exceptions. For example StarsHelper is a software that does the things you are hoping for and it is accepted by pokerstars. However, at the time it has many glitches with the Aurora.