Hand No. 8

This entry will demonstrate why pot odds are such an important aspect of Texas Hold'em. Pot odds should be considered in every hand you play, rather than relying solely on the strength of the cards of your hand.

First hand of a live game tournament. Ten players at the table with starting stacks of 16,000 chips, and blinds start at 100/200. I am the player in the SB, and I have K 4 unsuited.

Player A folds. Players B & C call for 200. Player D folds. Players E, F, & G call for 200, as do the Dealer and the SB. The BB raises to 800. As the BB makes this raise, I unfortunately state his raise is unlikely to eliminate any of the players who limped. All players except the SB call for 800. The pot is 5,800.

The flop is K 9 4, with two clubs. The BB checks. Player B bets 800 and Player C calls. All other players fold around to the BB who calls for 800. The pot is now 8,200.

The turn is the Ace of diamonds. The BB now leads out with a bet of 1,500. Player B folds and Player C calls. The pot is now 11,200.

The river is the 7 of spades. The BB checks and Player C checks as well. The BB shows A 10 unsuited, Player C shows 8 9. The BB wins the pot of 11,200.

My thoughts on the hand:

Generally, if someone limps into the pot from early position, it creates a domino effect, with each successive limper creating better pot odds for the next player. By the time the action got around to the SB initially, he only needed to call 100 for a potential pot of 1,600. The initial call was correct, even with K 4 unsuited, and it would have been correct for any two cards.

The BB held A 10 unsuited and faced two choices. The BB could check and see a flop on a decent sized pot for no extra investment. But the BB would then have a positional disadvantage after the flop. Alternatively, the BB could raise, sensing that a number of the limpers had marginal hands. A raise would also help his positional disadvantage as well by causing any callers to be hesitant to bet after the flop. A 10 is also the type of hand that can get you into trouble, so a raise here would help better define the type of hands he is facing. But the BB only raises 800, which is not enough to drive out the other players, except for the SB. Player B not only had the express odds to call (600 for a pot of 2,800), but the implied odds made the call that much easier. Player B could infer that several of the players behind him would call, as each call would improve the pot odds for the next player.

Putting aside the strength of his hand, if the BB were inclined to raise pre-flop in this situation, a much stiffer raise would be needed to drive out some of the marginal hands - somewhere in the neighborhood of 150% to 200% of the pot. There is a slight risk one of the early players limped with a big pair, hoping for a re-raise. But a bigger raise would have given the BB a better idea of what he was facing.

So imagine the SB's dismay when the flop hit. The SB folded K 4, and the flop would have given him two pair, which it turns out would have been the best hand. So why did the SB fold to the raise before the flop? After the BB raised pre-flop, all the players already in the hand called. Therefore, it would cost the SB 600 to see a flop for a pot of 6,400. Those are pot odds of over 10 to 1. The SB need to call with any two cards at this point. And it turns out the minuscule odds would pay off for the SB. So what happened?

Several things were going through my mind. First, it was the first hand of the night. I wasn't quite "settled" and ready to play at this point. I simply failed to consider the pot odds. Calling the initial 100 was a "no-brainer", but the raise made me dump my worthless cards. Second, it was early, and I figured a K on the flop would only lose me more chips to a better K, and it was unlikely a 4 on the flop would help me. And finally, I was feeling a bit sheepish about my warning to the BB on the size of his bet. I generally try to discourage this type of "table talk", so I felt like I should get out of the hand to make up for my error.

Pot odds have to be a component of your poker game. Calculating pot odds can actually make your decisions easier. But you have to have the discipline to let the hand go if the flop doesn't connect with your cards or if you meet any real resistance. When you do connect, you have to make sure you get maximum value for your hand to off-set the times you pay to see the flop and don't connect.

Beneath the skill it takes to read your opponents or to pull off outrageous bluffs, poker is a gambling. To win a tournament you have to be willing to gamble, and pot odds help you to pick your spots so that your gambles will pay off in the long run.

Math is hard. Got any tips for calculating pot odds? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section, and thanks for reading.