How To Use Pot Odds To Improve Your Game
Winning at poker isn’t just about going in with a kick ass hand. It’s about bankroll management, strategy, and probabilities. When you hear about somebody consistently pulling down pots and coming out on top over the the long haul, it’s a good bet they know how to calculate pot odds. Today, we’re going to give you a quick primer.
What follows is not meant to be a comprehensive course. We don’t have enough room here. If you’d like to see an in-depth treatment, read this article on pot odds. You can also read an overview of poker odds. In the meantime, here are the basics…
Common Terms Used
You’ll hear a couple of common phrases thrown around when folks talk about poker odds and probabilities. So, let’s clear up the confusion by defining them.
Outs - The number of available cards that can improve your hand.
Pot Odds – A value that represents the size of the current pot versus your call.
A lot of good poker players will also mention implied odds, bet odds, and other terms. But, we’re keeping things simple today.
A Little Pot Odds Math
For those of you who flunked math in school, now’s the time to learn. Unless you plan to always go into the turn on a wing and a prayer, you’re going to need to perform a little math in your head. This is what the pros do. Here’s an example of how pot odds work (and again, we’re keeping it simple):
Let’s suppose your hole cards are king queen suited. The flop is showing a jack, ten, and four with 1 of your suit. You’ve got a drawing hand. It’s not necessarily strong, but if the turn or river bring a ace or nine, you’ll make your straight.
First, let’s determine your outs to the nuts. There are 4 aces and 4 nines out there. So, you have 8 ‘nut’ outs. Double that number and add one. That gives you 17. That means there is roughly a 17% chance of pulling an out on the turn and another 17% chance to hit on the river. Of course the nut outs could change on the turn but for now this is what we have. A king or a queen might also be an out, but this is not guaranteed as someone easily could have a hand like queen jack.
Now, let’s calculate your pot odds. Suppose there’s $20 in the pot and the bet coming at you is $4. Add them together to get $24. Then, divide the call by that amount. In other words, divide $4 by $24. Your pot odds would be 16.67%.
As a general rule of thumb, if your chance of pulling an out is higher than your pot odds, call. If not, fold. In the example above, 17% is obviously higher than 16.67%, so you should call.
You might be thinking to yourself, “I’m not gonna do that each time the bet’s coming at me. That’s too much work!” First, if you don’t do it, you’ll be at the mercy of the players who do. Second, after you get used to calculating pot odds, it’ll come naturally to you.
To get some practice, visit Bodog.com and open an account. It’s a great learning environment because the traffic is consistent and the skill level at a lot of the tables is pretty low. You can also read our Bodog Poker review.
Once you learn how to figure out your pot odds, you’ll have a distinct edge over other players who refuse to do the math.
Full Tilt Poker Academy Is Up And Running
One of the reasons we cover Full Tilt Poker often on this blog is because they keep pumping out new features, competitions, and tools for their members. Their recent launch of the Full Tilt Poker Academy is a perfect example. Once you join FullTiltPoker.com, enrolling into their Academy is absolutely free.
But, don’t let the price (or lack of one) fool you. The Academy is jam-packed with lessons, videos, and live sessions from the biggest names in poker.
Here’s an overview of what you can expect…
Poker Strategy Lessons With The Full Tilt Pro’s
FullTilt Poker has a huge roster of pro’s including high-profile stars like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, and Chris Ferguson. They come together in the Full Tilt Poker Academy to explain their expert strategies and techniques. They’ll break down their hands in multimedia videos so you’ll understand the reasons behind their play. Would you like to learn how Lederer, Ferguson, and others pro’s climbed their way to the top of mountain? These video strategy lessons will show you.
Visit Full Tilt Poker to enroll (for free!) into their Academy.
Pro Sessions: Putting Theory Into Practice
The Academy’s pro sessions take the strategy lessons to the next logical level. In the lessons, you’ll learn specific techniques as explained by the best minds in poker. In the pro sessions, you’ll watch as those techniques are applied during hands.
You can see Paul Wasicka gradually increase the pressure in a $2/$4 heads-up NL hold’em game. Or, watch Allen Cunningham battle his way through a $1/$2 NL 6-handed game. Amanda Baker will take you through a 9-handed $1/$2 NL cash game.
Full Tilt Academy Challenges: Testing Your New Poker Skills
You’ve learned opponent-crushing poker techniques in the strategy lessons. You’ve watched them played out step-by-step in the pro sessions.
Think you’ve got what it takes? It’s time to prove it.
The Full Tilt Poker Challenges are specifically designed to put your new skills to the test. They’re not limited to testing whether you know how to play suited connectors in the pre-flop or how to bluff. These challenges go much further.
You’ll have a chance to test your bankroll management skills (this is more important than most players think). You can also show off how well you know how to leverage your position, master the bubble, and go deep into the SNG’s.
The Full Tilt Poker Academy is the latest offering in a string of tools and promotions. Again, enrolling is free after you join FullTiltPoker.com.
If you’re not already a member (what are you waiting for?), visit Full Tilt Poker and register your account. The Academy awaits.
Your Position, Strength, And Strategy In Texas Holdem
We’d be willing to bet over 80% of the folks playing at the biggest poker rooms don’t realize how important their table position is.
If you play at PokerStars, FullTiltPoker, or SportsBook, you’ll often see flop percentages hovering over 50%. A lot of those high percentages are due to fish who get pulled into the flop because savvy players are exploiting their position. If you’re not sure what position is and why it should influence your holdem strategy, don’t worry. We’re going to cover that today.
Let’s get you up to speed so the next time you log into your poker account, you’ll have your guard up. Before we start, take a second to get acquainted with the following table:
Early Position Strategy
Position is based on where you’re sitting in relation to the button. If you’re in the early position, you’re at a disadvantage. Every person to your left has more information than you. They’re reacting to what you and others before them do.
Don’t go in with a marginal hand. If you have a high pocket pair (Aces, for example), you’re safe. But, don’t push with a weak suited connector hoping to flop your set. Remember, in a full game, there are at least 7 players after you. If you get squeezed, you’ll just hemorrhage chips.
Middle Position Strategy
Being in the middle position is better than being in the early position. But, not that much better. You don’t have to play as tightly going into the flop as you would when your Under The Gun (Carol’s position from the above table). That said, there are still several players acting after you. If they’re aggressive and know how to use their late position, they can easily pull you into the flop and take your chips.
Things aren’t clear cut when you’re in the middle position. Watch the other players. Be wary of the aggressive ones in late positions. But, if you notice a few players limping into the pot before you, call on a low pair or suited connectors. If they fold to you, raise. Your odds just increased.
Late Position Strategy
This is where you can make money. Not only are you positioned to know more than nearly every player at the table, but you can steal blinds much easier. Stealing blinds is practically impossible when you’re Under The Gun. It’s tough even when you’re playing the middle position. When you’re late, you’re acting on what everyone else does.
If every player before you simply calls the blind, raise. Even if you’re not holding anything. If the table isn’t overly-aggressive, you’ll weed out several players when they fold. Plus, those who don’t fold will be under your thumb for future betting rounds.
Exploiting your position and the positions of your opponents can take a lot of players by surprise. Like we mentioned, most of the players at PokerStars, FullTiltPoker, and SportsBook don’t seem to appreciate the power of position.
If you want to practice your position strategy at Texas Holdem, visit PokerStars. They draw a lot of new players, so the hunting grounds are full of easy game. Plus, remember that PokerStars has one of the easiest to clear bonuses around (100% match up to $50).
Visit PokerStars and start using your position against the fish.
New Full Tilt Poker Take 2 Promotion
Full Tilt Poker has just launched a new Take 2 promotion. If you’re a long-time member of FullTiltPoker.com, you should already be familiar with how the Take 2 promo works. Don’t worry if you’re not; we’ll explain it below.
If you’re not a member yet, visit FullTilt Poker and use bonus code “kickasspoker” to lock in your 100% match (up to $600).
Let’s pop the hood and take a look at how Take 2 works…
How The Full Tilt Take 2 Promo Works
It officially started April 3rd (last Friday) and continues through 11:59 p.m. EST on on Sunday, April 12th.
If you play 2 tables at the same time, Full Tilt will double the number of Full Tilt Points (FTP’s) you earn at those tables. For example, let’s suppose you’re playing at 2 hold’em tables for an hour. You earn 30 FTP’s at the first table and 45 FTP’s at the second table. Normally, you’d earn 75 points. During the Take 2 promo, Full Tilt will give you another 75 points.
You can spend your FTP’s in the Full Tilt Store (Mini Cooper S for 6 million points anyone?) or use them to gain entry into special Sit & Go’s and multi-table tournaments.
Here’s another perk…
If you participate in the promotion for 5 days, you’ll get a free $5 cash bonus. There’s no clear rate; once the $5 bonus is in your account, it’s yours. Because the promotion only lasts through April 12th, you’ll need to get started today or tomorrow to play the full 5 days.
How To Enroll In Full Tilt’s Take 2
This is important. You have to enroll into the promotion or you won’t get the points you deserve for playing during the promo period.
It’s simple to do. Just log into your account and go to the Cashier. Hit the big “My Promotions” button and click the Take 2 icon. You’ll need to click another link which confirms that you actually want to participate.
From that point on, your extra points are automatically deposited into your Full Tilt account within 6 hours of earning them. Your free $5 cash bonus (for playing 5 days during the promo) will be deposited after April 12th.
Visit FullTiltPoker.com to get started.
By the way, for you Happy Hour fans out there (Full Tilt Poker Happy Hour, that is), the Take 2 promotion doesn’t affect it. So, suppose you’re playing 2 tables at the same time between now and April 12th, and you’re doing it during FullTilt’s Happy Hour. You’ll earn your Happy Hour points (double) and your Take 2 points (double) on the same tables. In effect, you’re earning 4 times the points!
Visit Full Tilt Poker.com today and grab a piece of the action. Use bonus code “kickasspoker” to get your 100% match (up to $600). Then, enroll into the Take 2 promo and start earning your double (or quadruple during the Happy Hour) points.
Plus, if you start today, you can still get the free $5 cash bonus.
