Pot odds — poker concepts

What it is

Pot odds compare what a call costs with what it can win. Facing a bet, the pot already holds everything that went in before, plus the bet itself; your call adds the last piece. The price of the call as a share of that final pot is the equity you need to break even.

Players say it two ways: as a ratio ("three to one": the pot is three times the call) or as a percentage (25%: the call is a quarter of the pot it makes). They are the same number.

Why it matters

Every call is a bet that your hand wins often enough. Pot odds turn "is this a good call?" into a comparison: your equity against the price. If your hand wins more often than the price asks, the call makes money on average; if not, it loses.

Bigger bets ask for more. A third-pot bet needs 20% equity to call, a pot-sized bet 33%, a double-pot overbet 40%. Knowing these by heart is the fastest maths at the table.

Pot odds are exact only when nothing else happens after the call — the river, or an all-in. With cards and bets to come, money you win later (implied odds) and money you lose later or cannot win (reverse implied odds) change the real price.

The maths

Required equity equals the call divided by the pot plus the call, where the pot includes the bet you face.

Where

pot: everything in the middle, including the bet you face
call: what it costs you to continue

The EV of calling equals your equity times the pot plus the call, minus the call.

Worked example

A flush draw on the turn

The pot is 12 bb on the turn and your opponent bets 6 bb. You hold a flush draw: 9 outs among the 46 cards you cannot see.

The pot you can win is 12 + 6 = 18 bb, and the call is 6 bb.
Required equity: 6 / (18 + 6) = 6 / 24 = 25%. As a ratio, 18 to 6 is 3 to 1.
Your equity: 9 / 46 ≈ 19.6% to hit on the river.
EV of calling: 0.196 × 24 − 6 ≈ −1.3 bb.
To break even you would need to win about 6.7 bb more, on average, on the rivers where you hit.

On price alone this is a fold. It becomes a call only if you expect to be paid enough on the river when the flush comes — that is what implied odds mean.

Try it

Move the bet and watch the required equity: a small bet needs a little, an overbet needs a lot. Then set your equity and see the EV of the call cross zero exactly at the required equity.

Pot, including the bet you face18 bb

To call6 bb

Your equity19.6%

Equity needed: 25%
Pot odds: 3 to 1
EV of calling: -1.3 bbLosing

Common mistakes

Dividing by the pot before the bet. 6 into 12 is not 50%: the bet is part of what you win.
Comparing the price with your equity against every hand your opponent could hold, rather than against the hands that actually bet like this.
Treating pot odds as the whole answer with cards to come. On the flop, bets on later streets change what a call really costs.
Counting outs that also improve the opponent — a flush card that pairs the board can give them a full house.

In your hands

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