im totally confused rigth now. i used to think that when the pot is laying us
2:1 for a call or in other words theres 1$ in the pot and villain bets 1$ (so 2$ pot total), we're calling 1$ to win 2$, does that mean we need to be good in 50% or in 33%?

This is why I prefer to work in percentages all the time, they're more accurate and I don't think odds are more intuitive personally.

If you have to call $1 and the final pot (after you call) will be $3, then you're calling for 33% of the final pot and thus have to win 33% of the time to break even. Simples.

The odds way is that the pot of $2 is laying you 2:1 on your call of $1, and that you therefore will break even if you are a 2:1 underdog. Being a 2:1 underdog is the same thing as winning 33% of the time.

That's fine, except that most of the time the pot is actually laying you some irregular number like 2.287:1 or something, you have say 9 outs twice, you use the rule of 4 to figure your winning chances at 36%, and then you have no clue how 2.287:1 compares to that. I would prefer to just work out what percentage of the final pot my call is and then I can directly compare that to my percentage chance to win.

thanks a lot for the detailed response. i got it!

If you call 3 times and win once, you lose $1 twice and win $2 once. Thus you need to win 1/3 of the time (33%) to break even.