Introduction to calculating odds and percentages

Every poker player who has ever sought to increase their knowledge of the game has probably heard of poker odds and percentages. This article will provide a very basic and accessible introduction to this subject.

Calculating the odds in poker

When we read someone saying “I had 4:1 odds” what does that mean? Let’s look at two examples to learn how to better interpret this data.

Example 1: If someone gives us odds of 4:1 or 4 to 1, we can interpret that this means we need to win 1 out of every 5 times to break even in the situation used (stay at 0 to 0). We can also say that for every 4 times we lose we have to win 1, totaling 5.

Example 2: If the pot is $14 on the river and we need to call $4 to win it, what are the odds for calling? Since the pot size is $14 and we need to call $4, we will describe this as 14:4 or 14 to 4. We want the second side to be reduced to 1, so we divide the first number and the second number by the second number: (14/4):(4/4) = 3.5:1.

Converting odds to percentage

Example: To calculate the percentage we have to win using odds of 4:1, we first add 4+1 and put this number as the denominator. In the numerator we put the number 1. So odds of 4:1 are actually 1/5 or 0.20, which is the same thing as 20%.

Some common odds converted to percentages:

5:1 = 16.7%
3.5:1 = 22.2%
3:1 = 25.0%
2.5:1 = 28.6%
2:1 = 33.3%
1.5:1 = 40%
1:1 = 50%

Converting Poker Percentages to Odds

First we divide the percentage by 100 to get a decimal. We then subtract this number from 1. Step 3: The resulting decimal goes on the right-hand side and the one before it goes on the left-hand side. Step 4: We then reduce both sides to get the number 1 on the right-hand side.

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Example 1: Converting odds from 20%

1st Step: 20/100 = 0.20
2nd Step: 1 – 0.20 = 0.80
3rd Step: 0.80 : 0.20
4th Step: .80/.20 : .20/.20 = 4:1

Now that you know how to calculate the odds, just practice reasoning using previously acquired knowledge of outs, and relate the data, thus always trying to think whether a play is profitable or not!

Example:

Player 1: :4s :5s
Player 2: :Jd :Jc

Board: :Qs :6s :8c :Kd

Our opponent has a pair, and in this case, the only cards that save us on the river are the spades or a 7, for a straight.

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Knowing this, we know that we have 9 outs from the flush and 3 from the straight, totaling 12 outs – which represents a chance of 27.2% of hitting a card that gives us victory on the river.

NOTE: In this example, we will assume that we know our opponent's cards.

The pot is $1,000 dollars, and Villain bets $500. Should we call?

The odds are 2:1, or 33.3%.

Although the temptation is great, we will hit our hand fewer times than the number of times necessary to make this play profitable in the long term, according to the odds, so the correct thing to do is to fold.

Article translated and adapted from: Calculating Odds