Hi, i have some questions about pot odds.

How many decimals do you use for calculating the pots odds of a certain situation?
One, two, none?
Does is affect our long term decision making if we only go of rough estimates? If yes, how significant do you think it is?

To be honest, I don't really calculate them at all any more. Just from experience, you kind of "know" whether you've got the right price, based on the size of the bet in relation to the pot-size, the strength of your hand/range and the size of stacks still behind.
Basically, if someone is mashing the pot button, I'm calling less often than I would if they are betting half pot. If someone makes a strange bet-size like 62.56% of pot, there's not enough time to calculate the precise pot odds, or work out how often I need to be right. I've usually already said to myself "With this particular hand, I can call a small/medium bet, but I can't call a large one." Some hands are too strong to fold, and some are too weak to call.
All this said, I did do the math years ago, and I think it's very important to know exactly how much equity you need facing standard bet-sizes.
That is to say,
If villain bets pot, you need 33.33% equity.
If he bets half pot, you need to win a quarter of the time.
If he bets somewhere between half pot and full pot, you need to win about 30%.

I don't really care any more what pot odds I'm getting, honestly. It mostly comes into play when you force your decision on calling or folding and that's not the line I am taking in most cases with strong drawing hands.

For beginners though, limiting your options to calling or folding is sometimes a better choice, simply because knowing spots where your opponent is weak and is able to fold some of the time takes experience. Your main source of profit from these drawing hands should come from getting paid when you hit, the more you play the more that transits into getting your opponent to fold and thereby realizing a lot of its equity.

I think if you have a situation where you really need pot odds, limiting to a rough guess is fine. Whether it is 1,6:1 or 1,7:1 is hardly going to influence your decision although the closer that number is to 1 the more accurate you want to be. 5:1 or 6:1 isn't important, 1:1 or 2:1 is. In practice you want to roughly estimate and then after that review the hand and do the proper math. After doing this many times you will have remembered the numbers anyways and you will rarely do them again.

The 'math' of poker 'outs' is something you work on away from the table or at least when you are out of a hand. There are some apps that will assist you if you want to know if what kind of call you made. These calculations will become second nature to you once you go through them or work on them away from the table.

The rule of 2 works best on the fly .. flush draw on the Flop = 9 outs. 2 x 2 x 9 is 36. You have roughly 36% to win by the River ... if all your outs are good.

For pot odds you need to pay attention to the hand at all times. Most dealers will announce how many people are going to the Flop so that will be easy math. From that point on you need to pay attention to bet sizes and how many have called.

Implied odds come from your opponents stacks 'behind' and although you may not be getting the right price to call HU for a flush draw, if you 'know' that you will get paid off if you hit then you can justify a call. If someone wont pay you off, then a call may not be as attractive as it looks.

Then you may have to adjust your 'outs' based on how many players are in the hand and what range of cards those players typically play, which can effect how many cards are left in the deck that actually help you.

Unfortunately you rarely are priced into 'a lot' of calls on the Flop. Players are smart and will 'charge' you to draw/continue. That is where you start to play poker and not just cards.

You should never get into decimals with odds. Plus or minus 5% should be enough at the table or if you are using fractions, then use 1/4 or 1/3.

Don't be a Barry Greestein and slow the game down trying to shave edges!! GL

the point of using pot odds is to prevent you from making hideous errors. knowing that you're getting 2-1 pot odds when you need 4-1 to call is important. worrying about whether you're getting 3.95-1 or 4.05-1 when you need 4-1 to call is ridiculous as if you're making a mistake, it's such a tiny mistake that it doesn't matter. excessive precision on this sort of thing is irrelevant and applying excessive precision is just going to divert your attention from more important factors.

I've never really counted pot-odds while playing. Yeah it matters wheter you are getting 3 to 1 or 3.4 to 1 odds, there are so many other factors to take into account.


I just feeeel it

I'm thick as pig doo doo when it comes to maths but i found an easy way for pot odds especially in tournies for the bigger figures is to just cut the numbers down, for example the pot is 2740 and i have to call 560 id just ask myself how many 6's in 27 which would give me a guestimate of 4/1 a little over . its not exact but it's close enough , just round the figures off and make it simple as you can , unless your a genius your not going to be exact anyway.

Thank you for all the answers. They help a lot. I am currently working on pot odds / betting odds and try to calculate them while keeping track of pot size at the same time. I would like to train it to a degree where it doesn't take effort anymore. Then I'll work on the next concept.

I was sorting all of that out not so long ago,

Sure it's cool knowing that you flop trips with pocket pairs 10.8% but if it's too hard to remember 1 d.p then thinking 11% won't change your plan much.

Especially when starting out, making the correct lay downs and value bets are what I found to be most useful in keeping my game as close to B/E as possible.

Once you start learning acceptable plays and the basic ABC poker, only then should you consider going a step further (1 more d.p).


Like the others said, sometimes it doesn't matter what your odds are or what you hold, get used to playing the situation rather than just your cards.