You dont really calculate them, you're just cognizant of them.

It's basically just a fancy way of saying "Even though I think I have the best hand right now, there are so many outs against me that i probably WONT by the river, and it'll cost me a lot of money to find out that I lost, so it'll be better overall to just fold now."


Think of a spot where theres 3 opponents and you have AT on a T98 board. Your reverse implied odds are pretty bad, a LOT of cards are bad for your hand -- any 6, 7, 8, 9, J, Q are likely to improve someone elses hand. Thats 18 outs, and thats assuming you're ahead in the first place. Folding here, even if you think youve got the best hand, is not a terrible move.

Put another way, its the ratio between the amount in the pot versus what it will cost you to play until the end of the hand.

The essential idea is that reverse implied odds should be considered when you are not certain you have the best hand. You think you have the best hand now, but it will cost more in future betting rounds to discover this.

Its more applicable in LHE than NL because you can raise enough in NL to price out draws, but it does come up once in a while.