Pot odds

Can somebody please clarify how to calculate pot odds. please provide a good example with explaination. Thanks

[fishstick]

check out: http://www.flopturnriver.com/start_pot_odds.html

I'm rather more interested in methods for counting the pot. It seems to me the best way to do it is in Small Bets (SB) rather than Big Bets (BB) so that 1BB = 2SB rather than 1SB = 1/2BB and you end up counting halves.

Thus, if I'm on the button, I can be saying, "check... 1 SB... fold... 2SB... 3SB... 5SB...", etc., counting before the flop so I know the pot on the flop (pre-flop hands being judged by Braid's Five Important Things and not pot odds). After the flop, I'm saying, "7SB... fold... 9SB... fold... 13SB..." etc.

At least, that's how it looks to me, but I'm just guessing since no reference I have seen talks about HOW to count the pot proper. Your advice here.

[Fnord]

You say Toe-May-Toe, I say Toe-Motto; let's call the whole thing off?

[crazyeddie]

Most of us are very simple people with very small brains. We like the BB counting because after 10, we have to use toes and no one likes playing without socks on...

It's also silly because the SB is only 1 out of the 10-30 bets in an average hand. In your method, you are multiplying every single bet by two AND adding, as opposed to rounding the SB to 1 and then just counting naturally...

You say Pajamas, I say PJs, let's go to bed with Michael Jackson.

[Ragingguitarist18]

You say Pajamas, I say PJs, let's go to bed with Michael Jackson.

what the, lol

eddies advice on counting that pot is good

[ttanaka]

what the...?! (I say that too...)

LOL, that last part went off in a twisted direction!!!

I think you're making it more difficult than it has to be with your pot odds calculations. I mean if the pot is $20, and the bet is $5, isn't that easier to figure out than dividing the bet into SB or BB's and keeping count of how many SB's are in the pot?? In a no limit game, the bet could be anything, I would think it would add complications...

I guess you guys are talking about a limit game...

But, whatever is easier for you, as long as you come to the right conclusion.

You fellows are making my point for me. You have some method, but you haven't said what it is. No one says what their methods are. Now, after about six months, I came up with a method (I count small bets) but it's hard to believe that all these guys writing books about poker don't have a method or don't want to share it. Maybe I re-invented the wheel. Can't tell--folks ain't sharing.

What do you do, and why do you do it that way?

Yes, if I know the pot is $20 and I know my bet is $5, I'm good. But:

• If I count bets (small or large), it lets me compare games regardless of structure.

• If I'm counting bets instead of money, I don't freak out over "large" amounts of money. ("Dern, $10K is a big pot!" "Nah, it's only 5BB.") This seems particularly useful in no-limit games because a big stack can easily ruin the odds for a short stack, and you need to know when that is happening.

• I like to work with numbers I know, especially when I'm sweating bullets over a hand. 1-2-3-4 is easy, but sometimes I can get lost on 80-160 (480 + 160+ 320 is harder than 3+1+2).

• Finally, if I count bets, I could count the pot in binary on my fingers (up to 31 bets on one hand), converting the count to BB by shifting the total SB to BB via twos-complement division (which includes a natural round-up) and then add in the BB from there. [It's harder to say than it is to do.]

Anysway, the point of all that (especially that last) was to say: there's a lot of ways it MIGHT be done, and no one is talking about how they actually do it and why they do it that way.

[Toasty]

Most of us are very simple people with very small brains. We like the BB counting because after 10, we have to use toes and no one likes playing without socks on...

Come on be honest how many times have you played in just your underpants ?

8)

[Fnord]

I think this thread just Jumped the Shark.

[Xianti]

You lost me at "hello."