Talking about poker

[PokerWoody]

Who wants to talk about poker? if so what sort of thing, or aspect of the game, do you want to talk about?

I for one would like to see a post about poker on this forum...

[barbarian]

ok... i've been thinking about fixed limit games, mostly that i'm rubbish at them bwcause i don't really get the strategy. it seems very restrictive, any words of wisdom?

[peter whelan]

Who wants to talk about poker? if so what sort of thing, or aspect of the game, do you want to talk about?

I for one would like to see a post about poker on this forum...

Could you please explain pot odds to me. There was a great debate going on the other night about what it is? One player must of knew he was beat after putting 75% of his chips in, but the response to the loss was it was good value pot odds

[Chipfire.]

This is where the potential return from his bet is better than the odds of making his improved hand.

I understand this to be the process:

calculate the number ofcards tha give you a winning hand - eg to make your pair of kings a 3 of a kind - there are 2 remaining in the deck so 2 outof say 47 cards remain. turn that into a probability - then look at the pot and work out the return on your bet.

I have the gist but not the exact mechanics - want to learn myself.

[sl0ggs]

...you're getting there!

Basically, if the pot odds are higher than the odds of improving your hand (or locking the hand) and other factors are 'favourable' (based on your observations throughout the game, position, chip stacks, etc) then you should be calling purely based on those pot odds... as you get short handed, this becomes more important.

Lots of other things come into it of course, but you need to be working out your pot odds every hand you're involved in.

One player must of knew he was beat after putting 75% of his chips in, but the response to the loss was it was good value pot odds

As for this quote, it would depend on the situation he was in as to whether this was a good move based on pot odds or not. It's not as simple as discussing just one call or raise in a hand (especially without lots more info on that hand).

I'm no expert but have been reading more and more lately. Well done to PokerWoody for starting this thread, I for one want to talk about poker more, as there is much to learn, and I want to pick the brains of PokerWoody et al, as they have played and read more than me!!

Poker-geeks, the all new geek on the block!

[PokerWoody]

Could you please explain pot odds to me. There was a great debate going on the other night about what it is? One player must of knew he was beat after putting 75% of his chips in, but the response to the loss was it was good value pot odds

Pot odds are basically the odds the pot is laying you at any one time. If there is £50 in the pot and someone has just bet another £25, then in order to call you must risk £25 to win £75 (£50 already in the pot plus the £25 just bet), therefore the pot is laying you 3 to 1 odds. All you need to do to get this number is divide the amount in the pot by the amount you need to call. This will give you your pot odds to 1. So if there was £110 in the pot and it was £25 for you to call you would be getting 110/25 to 1, or 4.4 to 1.

Take the following hand as an example.

You hold 78

The turn has just been dealt and the board is A 5 T 6

There is already £55 in the pot and the only other player in the hand has gone all in for his last £35. You know for a fact that he has AK Should you call or not?

In order to win the hand there are 8xs, 3x4s and 3x9s out of 46 available cards which will make you the winning hand giving you 14 outs. So the odds of you improving are 14/(46-14), or 2.28 to 1 against. Now you look at what odds the pot is offering you to make this bet. If the pot odds are greater than the odds of you making your hand you should call, if not you should fold. In this case the pot is offering you (55+35)/35, or 2.57 to 1.

Therefore in this situation you should call even though you are currently behind in the hand and will lose the hand more frequently than you will win it! If he had had £50 instead of £40 then you would have only been getting 2.1 to 1 on from the pot and should fold.