If you think only the Pros have a chance to win, you are mistaken. The beauty of Poker is that anyone can succeed – poker odds apply to anyone, regardless of the experience. Of course, your chances are meagre without putting in some work beforehand by studying the rules and possible Poker hands.
However, if you are after the big pot, over time, it’s essential to develop your Poker skills, build a strategy for yourself and look into tactics to increase your chances of winning. This also means calculating Poker odds has to become second nature. An excellent place to start to do that is by looking into how to use Poker odds to your advantage.
What are Poker Odds?
A simple way to explain Poker odds is that these are the probability you can expect to win or lose. Poker odds can also show how often you need the best Poker hand to call a bet.
When you start working on your Poker strategy, a Poker odds chart is one of the essential Poker tools for a Poker player. If you want to become great in your Poker games, you must always think about good odds for your gameplay, expected value at the Poker table, and pot odds.
How do Poker Odds Work?
First things first, you need to understand that without calculating Poker odds and learning how these odds work, you won’t be able to succeed with your gameplay. Poker odds can tell you the probability of winning a game round and how to play based on your starting Poker hand.
This is the part where skill comes into place. Of course, Poker also relies on luck. However, you have your say by evolving your skills. Don’t feel intimidated even if you aren’t into numbers and maths. In your own time and at your own pace, you’ll be getting the hold of it, and with a bit of practice, you’ll be perfecting the technique too.
Poker Odds Chart
Drawing Poker hands is an essential part of Poker games. However, the difference between winning and losing often comes down to knowing when you’re getting the right price to call. In the beginning, many Poker players use Online Poker sites of their odd charts to calculate poker odds and develop the poker strategy.
We will now break down the Poker odds chart to glance at the odds of flopping each of Texas Hold’em hands.
Poker Odds of Flopping One Pair
Should your pocket cards be unpaired, your chances are about 29% of hitting a pair on the flop. This means the odds are 2.45:1 against flopping a pair.
Poker Odds of Flopping Two Pairs
Holding unpaired pocket cards, your chance is about 2% of pairing each card for a flopped two pair. This means the odds are 50:1 against flopping two pairs.
Poker Odds of Flopping Three of a Kind
In Texas Hold’em Poker, you’ve got two ways to construct three of a kind on the flop. For a start, making trips requires holding unpaired cards as your starting Poker hand and the board featuring two matches to one of your cards.
Here, your odds are about 1.35% or 74:1 against flopping trips.
The second way to construct a three of a kind is with paired pocket cards and a third matching card hitting the board on the flop. This is known as flopping a set.
Here your odds are about 10.8% or 9.25:1 against flopping exactly a set.
Poker Odds of Flopping a Straight
Flopping a straight requires two cards that allow the possibility of connecting with the board perfectly.
Poker Hands with four different possibilities to flop a straight come with a chance of 1.3%, which means about 76:1 against. Starting with two cards with three ways to flop, a straight comes with a 0.98% chance. A two-way probability comes with .065% of the time, while a one-way probability comes with .033% of the time.
Poker Odds of Flopping a Flush
If you plan on flopping a Flush, you would need two suited cards and three community cards of that same suit appearing on the flop. If your two cards are of the same suit, you have an 0.8% chance of flopping a Flush, or 118:1 against flopping a Flush.
When looking into all possible hole cards combinations, only 23.5% are suited. This means you’ll be holding suited pocket cards roughly once every four hands in Texas Hold’em Poker.
Poker Odds of Flopping a Full House
Flopping a Full House is possible with almost any drawing hand, but the odds are significantly better when you have a pocket pair as your starting Poker hand.
Should you receive a pocket pair, your actual chance is 0.98% of flopping a boat or 101:1 against.
Should your hole cards be anything but a pocket pair, you are only at a 0.09% chance of flopping a Full House.
Poker Odds of Flopping a Straight Flush
As we already explained in our guide for Poker drawing hands, it’s scarce even to have the chance to flop a straight flush. Starting hands that offer four ways to flop a straight flush, you only have a 0.02% chance of making a straight flush on the flop.
Texas Hold’em Poker odds on a hand that offers three ways comes with only 0.015%, two ways with only 0.01%, and one way straight flush hands with only 0.005%.
Therefore, if you play Poker, try to stay as realistic as possible when focusing on constructing your winning hand.
Poker Odds of Flopping a Royal Flush
As explained before, flopping a Straight or Royal Flush in no-limit Hold’em involves hitting the longest odds. You require premium hands by getting dealt two suited broadway cards, then hope for the one possible flop that completes it.
Of all 19,600 possible Flops, there’s only one of them that makes a Royal Flush, and only when you’re holding the two suited broadway cards. Getting dealt two suited broadway cards as your pocket cards happen once every 32 Poker hands. Very rare, and therefore, your approximate probability equates to an 0.005% chance of flopping a Royal Flush.
Poker Odds Calculator
The online poker world provides many ways to get into Poker odds nowadays to make it easier for Poker players. You are either using different formulas offered by various providers via their free Poker content or using a Poker Odds Calculator.
Enter the kind of Poker you are playing, the number of Poker players, and what poker hand combination you are looking for. The Poker Odds calculator then is doing the maths for you.
What Are Pot Odds?
Before getting into the calculation, let’s clarify what a pot in Poker is. The pot in poker is the sum of money that players wager during a single hand or game. The size of such a pot varies according to the betting rules of the respective Poker variant.
Besides considering Poker Odds, there are also Pot Odds to look into. These represent the ratio between the size of the total pot and the bet facing you. It’s essential to know the total pot size, including the bet(s) made in the current round.
For example, if the pot holds $2 and your opponent makes a bet of $1, your pot odds are now 3:1. This means you have to pay one-third of the pot to have a chance to win the pot.
It’s foundational maths to calculate the Pot odds as it’s essential for calling situations in Poker. Without them, you won’t be able to figure out which calls are earning you profit and which are not.
How to Calculate Pot Odds?
In Online Poker, you can benefit from the screen as the total of the pot, for example, is displayed. However, to advance as a Poker player, it is necessary to learn how to calculate the pot odds quickly by yourself.
For example, the size of the pot is $100 and your opponent bets $50. That makes the total of the pot $150. This means on a call, you are getting 150:50, or also 3:1 odds.
You should convert your pot odds into a percentage from this stage to know exactly how much equity your hand needs to call the bet profitably.
Calculate odds by following the below guideline:
- Calculate the size of the pot size if you were to call
Figure out what the pot size would be if you called the bet. The total pot is $150, and it’s $50 to call. This means the pot would be $200 if you call. That’s the final pot. - Divide the size of the call by the size of the final pot
According to the above example, you need to divide your $50 call size by $200 final pot. The outcome is 0.25. - Multiply the outcome by 100 to get the percentage
Multiply the outcome of 0.25 by 100 to convert the decimal into a percentage.
The percentage is 25%. - Interpretation of pot odds
If you call this bet, you need to win more than 25% of the time to make a profit.
Implied Odds
In combination with Pot Odds, implied odds are commonly used to help you figure out if calling a bet with a draw is worth it. When discussing implied odds, we discuss the amount of money you expect to win on later streets.
To assess whether you have excellent or bad implied odds, evaluate as follows:
- Expect to win more money from your opponent after hitting your draw; you have good implied odds.
- Expecting to get no more money from your opponent, you have little to no implied odds.
A solid understanding of implied odds and pot odds will help you generate good situations more often.
The Next Step on your Journey
The journey of becoming an advanced Poker player is complex, but every step you take makes you understand more about how to play poker well. Especially when practising in Online Poker rooms, calculating Poker odds and pot odds will be easy for you.
