Pot Odds vs. Implied Odds

Poker is a game of numbers. Knowing the odds you are getting when you play a hand or when you are contemplating a call, raise or fold is critical to your long-term success. As well as knowing odds, knowing the difference in the types of odds you are getting is a critical skill that all poker players must know. The most important odds in poker are Implied Odds and Pot Odds.

Pot Odds

When you bet or call a bet, you are of course trying to win the money that is in the pot. The number of times you have to make the correct decision in terms of the size of the pot is called Pot Odds. For example, there is $100 in the pot, and the opponent bets $20 into the pot on the river. There is now $120 in the pot. Before deciding, think about your odds. You are getting 6-1 on your call, which means if you made this call 7 times, you only have to be right 1 time out of those 7 for the call to be break even. You lose your $20 call 6 times for a net loss of $120. 1 time you are right, and you win the $120 in the pot. If you are right more than 1 out of every 7 times you make the call, you will be making a huge profit.

Another classic example is when you have a Poker Star flush draw on the flop. On average, you are going to make your flush draw 1 out of every 4 times. Therefore, you need at least 4-1 pot odds. If you are facing a bet of $10 into a $20 pot, you are not getting the proper odds since the pot is so small. If however, you are facing a $10 bet into a $70 pot, you are getting the proper odds to chase your flush.

Implied Odds

Implied odds is a concept much different than Pot Odds. Implied odds not only deal with the money that is in the pot, but it also deals with the money that is in your opponents stack. In other words, implied odds deals with what you can win additionally when you hit your outs. For example, you are in the big blind with 22, and a player with 3000 chips raises to 90. It folds around to you, who also has 3000 chips, and you have to call 60 to see the flop. Therefore, there is 120 in the pot (there is no small blind this hand) and you need to call 60. Your PokerStar.com pot odds are 2-1, not enough to call, but your implied are huge. If you hit your set, you could win his whole stack. Assuming you knew you would win his whole stack if you hit a set, you would be getting 50-1 odds. That is plenty to call.

Decisions on Winnings

Let’s step into the universe for a moment where more often than not you’re walking away from the poker table a winner. That’s not to say this is a strictly hypothetical situation, but let’s get on the same page just for conversation’s sake. So, if you’re winning money, my question is: what are you doing with it? In my estimation, there are strong arguments for three different avenues you can take with your newfound funds. So let’s break down the positives and negatives of each one.

First, you can save it. Ah, wouldn’t your grandmother be proud. Although she’d probably have a tough time understanding how it was “hard-earned,” she’d no doubt pat you on the head for your responsible decision. So you’d have that going for you. Extra PokerStar funds for a rainy day are always helpful, especially in this economy. Be it rent, food or gas, pulling out some cash that wasn’t part of your monthly budgeted income and knowing you’re putting it to good, necessary use is always a nice feeling. Ultimately, it’s not wasted, and that’s an important positive. On the flip side, pulling out the $40 you raked in on a sweet bluff only to hand it over to Martha at the grocery store isn’t exactly ending the poker journey on a sexy note. Being responsible is no fun, and isn’t that why many of us play the game to begin with?

Second, you can spend it…on crap. Now, the official definition of crap is really anything from Taco Bell’s nachos to a new high-definition television (please, not the Best Buy brand) – and everything in-between. This, I’m definitely a professional at. I can blow money on crap with the top players in the game. Of course, the price of Phil Ivey’s crap is going to be noticeably more lavish than mine. His probably has diamond-encrusted corn nuggets. All right, enough of that. Since the upside needs no selling, the downside is, of course, spending the money on something you don’t “need.” But this argument can be made for any type of income or gift, so it’s no like poker winnings are in a class by themselves.

And last, you can reinvest it into the Absolute Poker game. And if you want to continue playing and making money, you’ll need to do this to some degree no matter what. It then comes down to the question of how much ammunition do you want to have next time you pull up at the OK Corral? A typical regular will want between 100 to 200 times the blind amounts to work with, which is fine for a good run at the table (a few hours, give or take)…but if you’re planning your next game to be a marathon, you might want to hold off on that trip to the candy store and push those winnings back to the banker for next week.

Using Rakeback an Income

Playing poker with rakeback has many positives, specifically bankroll related. It is actually possible to make enough money from rakeback that you can gain more from rakeback than from profits from your poker play.

The top rakeback poker players know exactly how to make the most from playing poker with rakeback. These players have turned playing poker with rakeback into a permanent income. This is because the amount a poker player will receive in rakeback over the space of a month is easier to predict than what they will earn in profits from their winnings from playing poker.

Predicting your profits from rakeback

Predicting your profits from rakeback is fairly easy, compared to trying to work out what you will earn from actually gain in winnings from playing poker. You can work out what you will earn in rakeback for the month many ways. The easiest way is using a rakeback calculator. All you need to do is input the information on how many tables you usually play, how many hours a day you play and what stakes you play and the rakeback calculator does the rest.

However, the way I have found the easiest and most accurate is by actually playing poker how you would usually play for a week, while tracking how much you have paid in rake. Then multiplying this by 4 will give you an accurate estimate of what you will receive in pkr rakeback a month.

Turning rakeback into a income

Poker players can then use this information from knowing how much they make from rakeback and turn it into a regular income. For example, if a poker player knows he is a break-even poker player from playing cash games, he can then use rakeback and start making a wage from playing poker.

For example, if a poker player has an ROI (return on investment) that swings between +5% and -5%, he can then use his rakeback as an income from poker. If a player plays poker 5 hours a day, his 5 hours of play will generate roughly $100 in Ultimate bet rakeback. He can calculate how much he will earn from rakeback. It can then be calculated into a wage or hourly rate. In this example, it would be $20 an hour. So they poker player knows, as long as he is breaking even from his poker play, his rakeback will produce a profit of $20 an hour.