Pot Odds and Closing the Action

[Dr_Loiselle]

I heard WiltOnTilt from another poker site discuss in his great video series Mathematics of NL Hold'em that one only knows ones true pot odds is when one closes the action. So, if that is true, then when I am not closing the action what do the pot odds mean and why? He didn't go much more into detail about this topic.

 

[Stu_Ungar]

I heard WiltOnTilt from another poker site discuss in his great video series Mathematics of NL Hold'em that one only knows ones true pot odds is when one closes the action. So, if that is true, then when I am not closing the action what do the pot odds mean and why? He didn't go much more into detail about this topic.

What he means is that id the pot is multiway and you are not last to act, you many call because the pot odds justify a call only to be raised by the last person to act.

The flipside is that if you believe the last person to act is passive and will call with most of his range, you can use this as implied odds. (but as soon as people start playing aggressively, this wont happen all that much)

Yet another reason why playing out of position sucks and you should avoid situations where you are out of position as much as possible.

 

[baudib1]

yeah, your calling range with people still to act must be much stronger than when you close the action, because you never know if someone will reraise. of course if your range is that strong you should consider raising yourself to deny people behind you odds as well in some situations.