Poker Odds

Hand Odds

This is the chances of making a hand. To calculate your hand odds you need to know how many 'outs' you have. An out is a card in the deck that will help you complete your hand. If you have AK of diamonds and 2 diamonds have come on the flop, there are nine more diamonds left, or 'outs', that can help you complete your flush. Once you have the number of outs, multiply it by four for an estimated percentage chance of hitting your hand on the flop. Multiply by two for your odds of hitting on the run.

Pot Odds

The ratio between the size of the pot and the cost of a call. If the pot contains $500, and you have to call $50 to stay in the hand, then the pot odds are 10:1 ($500 divided by $50).

Using the Odds

If the pot odds are bigger than your hand odds, you should call. Why? Because you're getting a value draw. If the pot odds are smaller than your hand odds, then simply throw your hand away.

Starting Hands

Why is raising better than calling pre-flop?

It puts pressure on your opponents, who have to decide how strong their own hands are. If you think your hand is good enough to face a raise, why not raise yourself? Unlike calling, raising gives you an extra way to win - by forcing opponents to fold. Even if only a couple of players fold, that's still good - you'll have fewer players left to beat.

What factors should determine whether you raise, call or fold?

Your hole cards, first of all. Be careful not to overvalue them or you'll end up spending chips to see a flop that might not help you. Your table position is important. The later your position, the more information you can glean before deciding whether to play or fold. This affects how strong your hole cards are. Bear in mind the number of players at the table. The more players at the table, the greater the chance of someone having a good pre-flop hand, thus increasing the importance of you playing premium hands only. Consider your chip stack also. The fewer chips you have,the more carefully you need to pick which hands to play.

Frequency of play

Don't play too many starting hands! This is vital advice. Good players often say you shouldn't be playing more than 30 percent of your starting hands.

Poker Maxims

Rules to remember every time you play

1. Poker is about information. The aim of the game is to try to get as much information out of the other players as cheaply as possible in order to profit from it as much as possible.
2. Always ask yourself: what am I betting and why am I betting it? What do I think the other guy has - and why do I think he is doing what he's doing? Pose these questions before every decision or action.
3. At the start of an online session decide how much time or how many hands you want to play for. Stick to your limit and end your session regardless of profit or loss. This will prevent you chasing losses, a vital discipline to learn if you are to become a successful player.
4. It's always an advantage to play after your opponent, and always a disadvantage to play before your opponent. Table position is one of the most important elements in poker.
5. To be a successful player you need to know how to be tight, passive, aggressive and loose. The skill is in recognising all these styles in your opponents, and being able to apply them yourself.
6. Don't go broke on an unraised pot. If you have limped in to the action you should never make big judgements about what other players have got.
7. Never go broke with one pair. Let's say you make a small raise with AA and the flop comes 8-9-10. If you meet maximum resistance on the flop then there's no excuse for going broke.