Calculating pot odds is not as difficult as you may think. You dont have to be a math whiz or physicist to calculate poker math. All you have to do is count how many outs you have and multiply that number by two or four. Outs are the number of cards still left in the deck that will give you the winning hand. Say you hold two hearts in your hand and you need another one to complete your flush. There are 13 hearts in a normal 52-card deck. You already hold two of them and two are already on the board. You have nine outs since there are nine hearts left in the deck that will give you winning flush. If you have one card to come, you multiply your outs by the number two.

If you have two cards to come, you multiply your outs by the number four. So if you have one card to come, you have about an 18% chance of hitting your flush. Having two cards to come, you will have about a 36% chance of hitting your flush. Play poker and memorize the number of outs you have in each situation. Once you have the number of outs, you multiply that number either by two or four. It is not necessary to remember percentages for each situation. Just memorize the number of outs for each type of hand and make a quick calculation. Now that you know how to calculate pot odds, you can concentrate on counting the amount of money you win off your opponents.

Napoleon Will is a self-published author and semi-professional poker player. He updates the poker review and strategy site
http://www.mypokerstart.com