Since Texas Hold’em has become so popular in the last few years, I’m sure everyone is familiar with pot odds. And if you know about pot odds, then you know when and when not to play most hands after the flop. But the thing is conventional pot odds knowledge only looks at your odds for hitting a hand by the river….which is wrong. If you want to know the right way to use pot odds, keep reading.
The Two Card Drawing Problem
Everyone draws cards by checking out the river while they are on the flop; it’s a common play. The only thing is, you shouldn’t do it because you’re not involving the turn bet when skipping ahead to the river.
One Card Drawing Strategy
Thinking about the turn bet will let you examine your odds of making a hand by the turn as well as the river. People tend to bet as long as their pot odds are higher than 5:1 (and they’re not contributing more than 20% of the pot). What this means is people hoping for an inside straight on the flop will assume their odds of hitting the straight are 5:1, which is true if they’re going for a straight before the river.
But doing this can become a big mess because the odds of hitting a straight by the turn is only 10:1. In other words the pot odds on the flop bet are 6:1 while you’re betting on the odds that it is 5:1. Case in point, you’re going to throw away a lot of money by not involving the turn bet so I suggest making your decisions depending on each street.
If you’re on the flop with a difficult decision to make, don’t forget to take a look at the implied odds you are getting. And look at them in contrast to your chances of making a hand by the next shown card. Depending on the 10:1 likelihood of hitting a straight and the 6:1 pots odds, the best thing to do is to fold your hand.
