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A Quick And Easy Way to Calculate Pot Odds

Usually when you see pot odds, they’re expressed as a ratio like 2-1 or 3-2. Figuring out these ratios can be tough to do on the fly. Let’s say you’ve got 6 outs after facing a raise on the flop and are trying to figure out your pot odds.

Here’s how most people do it: Since you’ve got six outs your odds are 6/47 (52 cards minus the three cards on the flop and the two cards in your hand).

Divide 6 by 47 and you’ve got about 12.7% chance of hitting your outs on the turn.

If you do this enough, you’ll have these percentages memorized, but that can be a pain in the butt.

A quicker way to calculate pot odds is to determine your outs, then multiply them by two.

Let’s do this with the six outs again. 6x2=12%. Not exact, but a close enough estimate in most cases.

You can also use this method to figure out your pot odds for the river. All you have to do is multiply your outs by two for each additional card to come.

If your opponent goes all in, you’ll need to know your pot odds for both the turn and river because you’re going to see both streets. If you have 6 outs just multiply 6x2x2. Your pot odds for the turn and river are 24%.

Of course, determining pot odds isn’t always this simple because you don’t know what your opponent is holding. You may think you have six outs, when you’re actually drawing dead. Or your opponent may be bluffing.

Determining your pot odds is an inexact science.

The best you can usually do is to put your opponent on a range of hands based on his history and how the hand has played out and try to figure out your odd of winning the hand against this range.

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