also whats your formula to work out your percentage to win with 3/2 odds etc.

i know its a noob question buy hey, im a noob to maths

cheers

4:1 against = 1/(4+1) = 20%.

This is 1 win for every 4 losses, or 1 win for every 4+1 = 5 plays.

3:2 against = 2/(3+2) = 40%. (2 wins for every 3+2 = 5 plays).

3:2 in favor = 3/(3+2) = 60%. (3 wins for every 3+2 = 5 plays).

There are two confusing things here.

Probability is usually stated as the number of equally likely ways something can happen versus the total number of ways. So I say you have 5 chances in 36 of rolling an 8 with two dice, because there are 5 ways to make an 8 (62, 53, 44, 35 and 26) out of 36 possible rolls.

Payouts are usually stated as the amount you win versus the amount you put up, so 4 to 1 means one side puts up $1 and the other side puts up $4. In this case, fair odds for rolling an 8 is 31:5 (which in turn is conventionally reduced to 6.2:1 because people don't like numbers higher than 20 unless the other side is 1). However, sometimes payouts are stated as 4 for 1, meaning you pay $1 which you don't get back, and either win $4 or nothing.

If the odds are 4 to 1 (also written 4:1), then you need a 20% probability of winning, 1 / (4 + 1), to make it a fair bet. If the wager is stated as 4 for 1, you need a 25% chance, 1 / 4, to make it fair.

Gamblers tend to think in terms of symmetrical bets, so 4 to 1. Casinos and mathematicians, for different reasons, tend to think in terms of one side paying money for the possible delivery of a payout.

So make sure you know if you're talking about payouts or probabilities and whether the ratio is stated as "to" or "for".