How to avoid misapplying implied odds in Texas Hold’em

Understanding implied odds in Texas Hold’em is important, but only if used properly

Many times, even when a Texas Hold’em player has a clear idea of what strategies are needed to become a better player, not being able to apply them correctly at the time of the game is one of the biggest problems. This is precisely what happens with the concept of implied odds. Having a proper Texas Hold’em strategy requires understanding a lot of different concepts at the same time, and misusing implied odds can often lead to disaster.

In order to successfully apply implied odds, it’s important to understand some of the concepts first. First of all, the odds against improving to the hand you consider is important to win are called drawing odds and they’re normally expressed as a ratio. As an example, when you hold a two pair and decide to draw a full house, is roughly 12 to 1 against you. The odds offered by a pot when you get to the point of considering whether to call or not are the pot odds.

If you want to know when a good bet is normally being done, that normally occurs when the pot odds you’re getting from the pot are greater than your drawing odds. When the scenario is the opposite, that is generally a bad bet. For example, if you are on the turn with a flush draw and you really think you need a flush in order to win the hand, calling your opponent’s $25 bet into a $50 pot would be a huge mistake. The pot odds would only be 3 to 1, while the drawing odds would be roughly 4 to 1, and as stated before, if the pot odds are less than the drawing odds, you’ll have a bad bet as a result.