Pot Odds in poker goes hand in hand with expected value .  Poker players use pot odds to determine if they should make a call and stay in a hand.  

Simply put, pot odds are the total amount that can be won to how much a player must put into the pot.

Pot Odds = w:b

where

w is the amount you will receive for winning
b is how muhc you are wagering or betting

The ratio w:b is an important ratio, it is your pot odds percentage.  The odds of winning the hand must be greater than your pot odds for it to be profitable to play.    

For example, say you are holding 2 hearts in the pocket and the flop was spade, club, heart with the turn being a heart.  You haven't yet made your hand, but you have 9 outs to a flush draw or 19.6% of getting a heart on the river.  If the bet to you is $5, and the pot has $50 in it, then your pot odds are $55:$5 or 11:1.  or 8.3%. Since your chances of making your hand are greater than your pot odds, you should make the call.  If however, the bet to you was $15, then your pot odds would be 23.1%, and you should fold.

View our chart on hand odds .

A Tip to Quickly Calculate Pot Odds:

To calculate your chances of catching an out on the next card dealt, you can simply multiply your number of outs by 2 and add 1.

In the above example, you have 9 outs, multiplied by 2 is 18, plus 1 is 19.  You have roughly 19% chance of getting another heart.  If post flop, you want to know roughly your chances of catching your card on the turn or river, multiply your number of outs by 3 and add 7.  

To calculate pot odds, instead of using the ratio 11:1, simple divide the bet to you by the total in the pot plus the bet.  In the above example, you would have $5 divided by $55 or about 9%.  

Since the 19% is greater than 9% you should call.