Want to make some money playing poker with friends: Poker Odds explained

If you don’t understand the basic rankings of poker hands, you should probably study a chart to see which poker hands beat which hands before you read on.  Here is a useful link that contains a graphic illustrating the rankings of poker hands for card newbies: http://www.doyoupoker.com/images/fr_table1.gif.
This article is a more advanced poker topic that involves a mental calculation of cards that improve your hand (“outs”) versus the size of the pot.  You can drastically improve your chances of making money playing poker by using a ratio called pot odds. Calculations using pot odds compare of two poker-related probabilities: 1) chances of hitting your drawing hand and 2) the amount to call in your drawing hand versus the size of the pot. Calculating pot odds is primarily used to make decisions in drawing hands. If the chances of drawing and hitting a card that will help you secure a pot victory are greater than the size of the bet that you need to call, then you should definitely call.
With being said, let’s talk about the calculation of “outs”, or poker odds. In a typical 10 person game, on the pre-flop, there are 2 cards dealt to every player and one burn card before the flop. You can see your “hole cards” but can not see any other player’s cards. That means that there 2 X 9 = 18 opponent hole cards plus 1 burn card which totals 19 unknown cards. This also means that 52 – 19 = 33 cards that are left in the deck to be dealt out.

The first thing you, as a poker player, need to determine is how many "outs" you currently have in any given hand that you have called pre-flop. An "out" is any card that improves your hand to make a potentially profitable poker hand. In order to do this, you count the total number of cards available that give you the poker hand you are currently drawing to. In this poker hand, the player is holding a K 7 (suited - clubs) in the hole and the boards reads: K (spade), 3 (clubs), A (clubs).  That means this player has 3 Kings for “trips” (three of a kind) and 9 other club cards for a flush or 12 cards total that can improve this poker hand. This player has 12 “outs” in this situation.

Player Hole Cards : K 7 (suited – clubs)
 

Board: K (spade), 3 (clubs), A (clubs)
  

Continuing with this previous situation, this means the player has 12 cards to improve the hand out of 33 cards still remaining in the deck. Chances of improving the hand calculates to 12 cards that can improve / 33 unseen, or a 36% chance of improving the hand. If the bet size to draw another card is less than 36% of the pot size, then this bet should be called. This is #1 that the player needs to crunch in calculating pot odds and whether a player should be in a hand or not.
Now, time to explain #2 of this poker calculation. The pot size is in the numerator and the cost of the bet to stay in the hand is in the denominator (i.e. pot size / cost of the call). If a pot contains $1000, and a player must call $100 to stay in the hand, then the player has 1000-to-100, or 10-to-1 (expressed as “having 10 to 1 pot odds”).  The bet that needs to be called by you is 1 / 11 (10 + 1) = 9% of the pot size. In the previous situation, given the chances of improving a player’s hand (36%) versus the size of the bet (9%), this bet should be called to draw a card every single time because it is a cheap bet.

Use pot odds in your poker playing style but try not to become predictable like a robot. Protect made hands by betting close to pot limit so it gives an opponent no pot odds to call. Additionally, if you made a monster hand, bet a small callable bet to maximize profit from collecting chips from a few players. Change your style up frequently so you do not become predictable. If you are using pot odds every time in your poker decision-making, you are playing like a robot.