Archive for October, 2012

Pot odds

The notion of pot odds is a basic element differentiating a regular poker player from a winner in the long term, especially in No Limit Texas Holdem. So after you get your carbon poker bonus code, make sure to focus on pot odds to put all chances on your side.

In short, pot odds is the ratio between the size of the bet that you make and the pot size. If you can call in and have to pay $12 for a bet of $3, the pot odds are 4:1. In other words for the three dollars that you can or should pay you get in return $12 if you are a winner.

The idea is that in this strategy pot odds can always be favorable to your chances of winning. If you believe that you have 20% chances to win a hand, the hand is played only if the pot is at least five times more than the required bet . If you have to pay a bet of $5 then the pot should be at least $25 if the chances of success are 20%.

Before the flop a great attention must be given in the situation that is played with worse hands hoping to get a very favorable flop. A flop can be quite costly considering that the chances of having a small pair in hand to get your set are quite small.

There are some general situations which impose some rules when you see a flop. In the first situation you can have a weak hand with no hope of improvement. For example if your hand is a King with a Jack of spade and on the board are a Two, A Seven and a Nine of diamonds what you can do is check and fold or make a bluff.

In the second situation you can have a good hand if the cards show that it is a possibility to have either the highest pairs, meaning two aces with two queens or to have a three of kinds if the cards on the board are a queen, a jack and a four and you have an ace and a queen.

A hand that does not submit claims to winning but it can turn into a good hand if on river or turn is a card that looks favorable. Such hand is called drawing hand. If you have an ace and a king of clubs and on the board is a jack of diamond, and two clubs cards you can win with a flush. In such a situation pot odds are very important. Pot odds calculation is not very difficult. The first thing you should do is to count the outs. An out is a card that will improve your hand. For example when expecting a straight at two ends when the number of outs is 8, you have 4 cards at an end and 4 at the other .