Pot odds refer to the ratio of money a player needs to put up to make a call versus the amount of money in the pot. Any time you are getting two to one or better on your money, the pot odds are in your favor. If the ratio is higher, then the more risk you can take when making your call. If you have several outs to make your hand, the odds are in your favor to make your hand. The secret to this idea is you can afford to miss more than once and still make money. There is a further step to this and that is what is called implied odds. This is the total amount you can expect to win if you make your hand and get called when you bet. This is an obvious sweetener to the deal. If this amount could be significantly higher, then you can make a more risky draw. Remember you do not need to make every hand to end up with more money than you bet when raising or calling.
This mathematical way of deciding when to raise and when to call takes some of the gamble out of the play and makes it more of a game of slight edges. The more mathematical edges you can accumulate in the game of poker, the more likely you are to be a net winner over time.
Pot odds versus feel for the game or to put it simply a hunch should not be discarded completely. There are times when a player knows before the card is dealt that it will be the card they need and give them the perfect hand. The extra sensory experiences cannot be thrown away out of hand. However the math of the game is far more reliable over the long run. When you see a tournament player hesitate before making a call, you can assume he is running the play of the hand and the pot odds through his mind. He is also looking for any tells that he may have picked up on the player he needs to call.
When a player is well versed in the pot odds and can figure them quickly in his mind, it can also be useful in deciding how much to bet if the player wants to get called. Dangle a reward in front of another player and get them to draw against an unbeatable hand. This is advanced play, but very good players do it every day.
The play of the cards is very important in any poker game, but pot odds will help a player decide when to call if the hand is not already made. Knowing when to do this is a huge advantage and players who use this math edge are going to have a better run of winning sessions than those who fly by the seat of their pants. Playing to win by hoping to be lucky can work for a while. However, the smarter players let the math edge help them to win. Having a solid reason to make drawing calls is far better than an itch on the back of the neck. The itch can be just that and not a signal from the ether. Knowing the game and the math of the play is worth the study to be able to do it when it counts. Any player can learn to do the math and it does not need to be super precise. An estimated ratio can be more than adequate to make drawing calls. A drawing call means that the player has not made the hand at that point and needs a card to complete it. If the odds are favorable, the decision is very easy to make.
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