Calculating Pot Odds
The process of using pot odds is simply calculating the odds of making your hand on the upcoming cards and weighing those odds against the payout the pot is offering. Which is where the term Pot Odds comes from.
Remember, pot odds can be used in any variation of poker, however some games such as Seven Card Stud require more work and calculation.
Step 1: Calculate the Odds of Making your Hand
The odds of making a drawing hand are determined by the number of cards left in the deck that will complete the hand, and the total number of cards left in the deck. For example, in Texas Hold'em, if you have 4 cards of the same suit after the flop, you know there are nine (13-4) cards left in the deck to make your flush. You also know there are 47 unknown cards left in deck. Therefore you'll make that hand 9/47=19% of the time. The odds are 38:9 or 4.1:1 against you.
An open ended straight would only have eight outs. In this case, the odds state you will make your hand 8/47 or 17% of the time.
The odds are 39:8 against you, or 4.9:1. You can determine these odds by counting the number of cards that do not make your hand - in this case there are 39 - and the number of cards that will make your hand - in this case there are 8. The ratio of 39:8 means that you will miss 39 times, for every 8 times that you make the hand. To put this ratio into use, you have to convert it. Divide the number of cards that don't make the hand(39) by the number of cards that make the hand(8) and you get 39/8= 4.9. Therefore, the odds are 4.9:1, which means you will miss approximately five times for everytime you make the hand.
Step 2: Compare the Odds to the Total Size of the Pot
The pot odds are simply the total pot, compared to the bet you have to call. In the above example, the pot should be at least 4.1 times the bet you have to call, otherwise, you are making a negative value bet. If the pot were 25$, and the bet to call was 5$, it would be worth calling.
Implied Odds
Some people(myself, for one) believe that you can call with less than the required pot odds because of implied odds. Implied odds attempt to take into consideration the fact that if you make your hand, you will win more money on future betting rounds. In the above example, I would call a 5$ bet, for a 15$ pot, if I didn't expect all my opponents to fold if I made my hand.
Pot Odds are useful in both Hold'em and Stud games. Calculating Pot Odds in Seven Card Stud is more difficult because it involves remember which cards have been folded that could have made your hand. There are more many more possible outcomes in Seven Card Stud.
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