This is a quickie but a goodie.  I realised one thing we didn’t cover when we took a look at calculating poker pot odds and our discussion of implied odds earlier was simply what percentage we had of making our hand depending on the number of outs in the deck.  Remember that ‘out’s are cards in a deck that make our hand.  For example, if we are on a heart flush draw with two hearts on the flop, we typically have 9 outs (nine heart cards still left in the deck that make our five heart flush). 

Now, we did take a look at one easy way to calculate our pot odds, but if you kick ass at counting how many outs you have, it also pays to commit to memory the percentage likelihood of hitting our hand depending on our number of outs. 

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Now that we understand what is meant by pot odds, we can now start to factor in the concept of poker implied odds to our decision making. It adds another important and dynamic layer into our poker playing strategy. Implied odds can literally make the difference between a call and a fold. 

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Probability and odds are huge factors in Texas hold ‘em. They are an integral part of determining how we will act at any given stage in any particular hand. The chances of finishing a flush or a straight, the probability of hitting an over card, the percentage of times we’re going to flop a set to match our pocket pair…these are all typical situations we’re bound to face at the felt.   How we react to them demands an understanding of how to calculate poker odds.

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