1. Explanation for a 5-Year-Old

Pot odds are like candy sharing. Imagine you and your friends have a jar of candy, and you want to decide if you should put in one of your own candies to win more from the jar. You look at how many candies are in the jar and how many you have to put in. If the jar has a lot more candies than you need to add, it’s a good idea. But if you only get a few more candies back, it might not be worth it.

2. High School Explanation

Pot odds are a way to determine if a bet in poker is worth making based on the ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of a potential call. You calculate pot odds by comparing the amount you need to call to the total amount in the pot after the call. If the odds of winning the hand are better than the pot odds, you should make the call. This helps you make better decisions by assessing whether the potential reward outweighs the risk.

For example, if there’s $50 in the pot and your opponent bets $10, the total pot is now $60. You have to call $10 to potentially win $60, giving you pot odds of 6:1. If your chances of winning are better than 1 in 6, then calling would be a good decision.

3. Professional Explanation

Pot odds are a critical concept in poker that involves calculating the ratio between the amount of money already in the pot and the amount of money it costs to call a bet. It’s a fundamental part of the decision-making process to determine whether a call is mathematically profitable over the long term.

The formula for pot odds is:
Pot Odds=Amount in PotAmount to Call
Pot Odds=Amount to CallAmount in Pot​

For example, if the pot is $90, and you face a $10 bet, the total pot after your call would be $100 ($90 + $10). Your pot odds are therefore $100 to $10, which simplifies to 10:1.

You then compare these pot odds to the odds of completing your hand. If you are drawing to a flush with a 9-out draw on the turn, your odds of hitting the flush by the river are approximately 4:1. Since your drawing odds are better than your pot odds, this would be a favorable call. This means that over the long term, making such calls will yield a positive expected value (EV), making it a profitable decision.