Cash Game (Full Ring) Guide Part 4 – Pot Odds and Draws

Part 4 – Pot Odds and Draws

After having a hand chart, the next step is to know how to play the draws, and for this there is the Pot concept. Odds. It is essential to know and master Pot Odds to play poker well, especially cash games.

It is the comparison between two ratios:

• Ratio between the remaining cards in the deck and the number of outs;
• Ratio between the size of the pot and the amount that should be paid.
(# of “bad” unknown cards/# of outs) in relation to (pot value/call value)

It is applied every time a player needs to decide whether to call with his draw or fold. It indicates whether or not it is mathematically correct to call so that the decision is +EV in the long run. It should also be used to defend a hand made of draws, knowing how much the opponent can pay to chase a flush, for example, one should charge a high price for the draw by betting more than this amount.

Here is a practical example:

You have :Ac :Tc

Board: :2c :7c :Js :5h

Assuming the pot is $6, your opponent bets $2. What should you do?

Initially you need to calculate the number of outs: 9 outs for the flush + 3 outs for the ace = 12 outs

(The T's were not counted as outs, as the opponent may have flopped a pair of J's)

The player knows 6 cards, the 2 in his hand plus the 4 community cards. Since the deck has 52 cards, 46 of them are unknown on the turn. Knowing that of these 46 cards, 12 (outs) will make the hand a winner, we will have:

34 bad cards : 12 good cards (outs) or approximately 3:1*;

*This nomenclature is more commonly used in the US and may cause confusion. 3:1 means that for every correct answer, there will be three errors.

In other words, the hero will win one in four times (25%).

The same should be done in relation to the pot value and the call value. The player must call $2 to win a pot of $8 (“initial” pot + villain’s bet $6+$2=$8)
$8 (total pot) : $2 (amount to be invested) or 4:1;

Therefore, every five times the player needs to win the pot in one of them for the call to be +EV.

The call is mathematically correct in this situation, because the probability of improving the hand is greater than or equal to the ratio of the amount to be invested to the pot. 3:1 (33%) > 4:1 (25%).

Now if in the same hand the villain bet $4.50, we would have:

$10.50 (pot value) : $4.50 (amount to be invested) = 2.33 : 1

Since 2.33 > 3:1, folding would be the best play.

See more explanations on this subject in our Strategy section.

In this series, we present a practical guide for new cash game players. It was written by our forum member Sarsante.

Part 1 – Introduction | Part 2 – Choosing tables | Part 3 – Hand Chart | Part 4 – Pot Odds and Draws