POKER

Knowing the odds is one of the basics of poker and a good grasp of the mathematics of the game is essential.

Most accomplished players know the percentages by heart and can calculate their chances in most situations. There are several types of odds and the starting point is known as "pot odds".

A simple example is as follows. In a hold 'em game, a player has four hearts to a flush with the last card (in poker-speak the" river card") to come. For the purposes of the example any heart will be good enough to win the pot. There are nine hearts remaining in the deck from the 46 unknown cards - the player can see six of them, two in the hand and four on the table. The chances of drawing a heart are therefore 37 to 9, near enough to 4 to1.

So if there are, say, 100 chips in the pot and an opponent makes a bet of 10, the bettor is offering the player with the flush draw an 11-to-1 return for a 4-to-1 chance. This would be a big mistake as the pot odds justify calling.

But if the bettor went to the other extreme and made it 100 to call the player with the flush draw would be getting pot odds of only 2 to 1 - the 100 in the pot plus the 100 bet against the 100 cost of calling. To make the call in this position would be the equivalent of accepting [pound]5 against [pound]10 on the flip of a coin.

The relevance of knowing the pot odds comes into play not only when being put in the position of having to call a bet but also when making a bet. The objective when betting is to give an opponent the wrong odds if he calls.

Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited. All rights owned or operated by The Independent.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.