Odds in Poker

New poker players often think the only odds involved in poker are the odds of being dealt a card which will give them a winning combination.

Actually, it's much more involved than that. While odds of completing a favorable hand on the flop, turn or river are important, other factors need to be considered in determining whether to check, bet, call, raise or fold:

Pot Odds

Pot odds are the ratio of the amount of money currently in the pot to the amount you need to put in now to call and stay in the game.

Implied Odds

Implied odds are the ratio of the total amount of money you can expect to win, to the amount you must put in now to call and continue the hand.

Reverse Implied Odds

Ratio of the amount of money currently in the pot to the amount you will need to call from the current betting round through the end of the hand.

Effective Odds

Effective odds are the ratio of the total amount of money you can expect to win to the total amount you will have to call from the current betting round through the end of the hand.

How these different types of odds interract and can be used to determine if a given play is to your advantage is a very involved subject requiring study and practice!

For more information, see our list of recommended poker books.

To see odds of making a hand in Texas HoldEm, try our Online Poker Odds Calculator.